Ancient Painting Luca Giordano '600 Allegory Oil on Canvas - Allegory of Fire with Jupiter and Semele

Features

Artist:  Luca Giordano (1632-1705) Workshop of 

Artwork title:  Allegoria del fuoco con Giove e Semele

Age:  17th Century / 1601 - 1700

Subject:  Allegorical/Mythological Subject

Origin:  Italy

Artistic technique:  Painting

Technical specification:  Oil on Canvas

Description : Allegoria del fuoco con Giove e Semele

Oil painting on canvas. The large scene sees in the centre, flying over the rocks, a bird from which flames hover, allegorically representing the natural element; on the left side of the scene the frenetic life of a forge takes place: in the foreground two men with panniers full of wood, two others more secluded are intent on talking with putti, in front of an altar. However, the main part of the frame is occupied by Jupiter and Semele: in the upper part the king of the gods descends from the sky, covered by a fluttering orange drapery, in his hands he holds a bundle of lightning bolts and is accompanied by the winds; lower right the princess, reclining on a cushion and surrounded by cherubs. The painting is attributable to the workshop of Luca Giordano (1634-1705) plausibly created in the 1680s. In fact, our canvas re-proposes, albeit with some modifications, the same subject that Giordano had already painted for the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, where it was sent in 1688 together with other paintings with mythological subjects. This subject must have been particularly appreciated, because at least one other copy of the workshop is known, made as a counterpart to that of the Madrid palace, kept in the Casa Martelli Museum in Florence: this version belongs to a series of paintings by Giordano depicting the four elements, coming from the collections of don Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán, Marquis del Carpio and viceroy of Naples from 1683 to 1687. Compared to the original, our version also presents changes: not in counterpart, but with the same setting of the scene, however, it differs in size, slightly widening the height from 114 cm of the original to 125 cm of this canvas, thus allowing for a wider framing. This shrewdness plausibly leads us to suppose that the painting in question had been created for a very specific client, perhaps Italian, and in the appropriate dimensions for the place of placement. Another important modification can also be read as a direct request from the client, namely the fact that Princess Semele is presented in a more chaste variant, no longer almost naked and with only a light drapery to cover her, but dressed in a tunic and a coat. Compared to the original autograph by Luca Giordano, our version demonstrates, despite the high pictorial quality, a greater ingenuity and a less meticulous rendering, which therefore leads the attribution to the workshop. The painting shows signs of restoration and relining.

Product Condition:
Product in good condition, with small signs of wear.

Artwork dimensions (cm):
Height: 125
Width: 178