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Lot Essay
Giordano depicts this brooding astronomer in a worn, patched coat of coarse cloth and a simple ruff collar. In his left hand, he holds a telescope and tucked under his arm is a mirror, in which the artist’s likeness is reflected back, engaging the viewer with a direct gaze. Giordano's features are unmistakable and can be compared to those in a number of self-portraits, such as that in Self-Portrait as a Philosopher (Capesthorne Hall, Macclesfield) and Self-Portrait as an Alchemist (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan; fig. 1), both of which are datable to the early 1650s (G. Scavizzi and O. Ferrari, Luca Giordano. L'opera completa, Naples, 1992, I, p. 255, cats. A30 and A31, II, p. 477, figs. 98 and 99). The present composition is known in another version, attributed to Giordano though of slightly lesser quality, in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (inv. no. ГЭ-2086). The upper left corner of the Hermitage canvas bears an old inscription, PLATONE., identifying the subject as the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato.
Born to an artist father, Giordano is traditionally thought to have been a pupil of Jusepe de Ribera, and in his formative years his debt to that artist is apparent, particularly in his depictions of philosophers and saints. His series of highly realistic portraits of philosophers are strikingly similar to Ribera’s own compositions, which were in popular demand in early 17th-century Naples, and featured in numerous noble collections. Indeed, when this Astronomer was offered at auction in 1964, it was catalogued as the work of Ribera (loc. cit.). Giordano is described by early biographers, however, as a self-taught talent. Rather than training in the workshop of a master, he supposedly sharpened his skills copying paintings, frescoes and sculptures in the churches and galleries around Naples, and later in Rome. His acquired sobriquet, ‘Fa Presto,’ reinforces his reputation as a painter endowed with innate skill, an intuitive sense of design, and a capacity for bravura execution. He swiftly became one of the foremost painters of his generation, welcoming major commissions from Naples, Venice and Florence, and also from Spain, where he executed decorative cycles in Toledo Cathedral and at the Escorial.
We are grateful to Giuseppe Scavizzi for endorsing the attribution to Giordano on the basis of photographs and who dates the painting to the 1660s.
Born to an artist father, Giordano is traditionally thought to have been a pupil of Jusepe de Ribera, and in his formative years his debt to that artist is apparent, particularly in his depictions of philosophers and saints. His series of highly realistic portraits of philosophers are strikingly similar to Ribera’s own compositions, which were in popular demand in early 17th-century Naples, and featured in numerous noble collections. Indeed, when this Astronomer was offered at auction in 1964, it was catalogued as the work of Ribera (loc. cit.). Giordano is described by early biographers, however, as a self-taught talent. Rather than training in the workshop of a master, he supposedly sharpened his skills copying paintings, frescoes and sculptures in the churches and galleries around Naples, and later in Rome. His acquired sobriquet, ‘Fa Presto,’ reinforces his reputation as a painter endowed with innate skill, an intuitive sense of design, and a capacity for bravura execution. He swiftly became one of the foremost painters of his generation, welcoming major commissions from Naples, Venice and Florence, and also from Spain, where he executed decorative cycles in Toledo Cathedral and at the Escorial.
We are grateful to Giuseppe Scavizzi for endorsing the attribution to Giordano on the basis of photographs and who dates the painting to the 1660s.