Luca Giordano Circle

Circle of LUCA GIORDANO (Naples, 1634 - 1705).
"St. Anthony of Padua".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 37,5 x 31 cm; 56 x 48,5 x 3 cm (frame).
By the technical characteristics, as the light will direct, the sobriety in the palette of colors and the composition of the scene, this scene can be inscribed in full Italian baroque, especially linked to the artistic circle of Luca Giordano (Naples, 1634-1705), who made scenes very similar to the present one. Giordano enjoyed great popularity during his lifetime, both in Italy and in Spain. The maturation of his style was influenced by artists such as Mattia Preti, Rubens, Bernini and, above all, Pietro da Cortona, whose physical types inspired those of Giordano. During the last years of the 1670s he began his great mural decorations (Montecassino, 1677-1678, and San Gregorio Armeno, Naples, 1679), followed, from 1682, by the dome of the Corsini chapel in the church of Carmine (Florence) and those of the gallery and library of the Palazzo Medici Ricardi (Florence). In 1692 he was called to Madrid to carry out the mural decorations of the monastery of El Escorial, both in the staircase and in the vaults of the basilica, where he worked between 1692 and 1694. The first is his most painstaking work, the process of which was closely followed by the monarch himself, Charles II. This was followed by the decoration of the office and bedroom (destroyed) of the monarch in the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. Later he was commissioned to decorate the Casón del Buen Retiro (ca. 1697); the sacristy of the cathedral of Toledo (1698); the decoration of the royal chapel of the Alcazar (destroyed); and Saint Anthony of the Portuguese (1699), where Giordano represented eight scenes from the life of Saint Anthony of Padua painted on tapestries. The arrival of Philip V in 1701 and the beginning of the War of Succession caused the end of royal commissions and his return to Naples, although he continued to send paintings to Spain.