Luca Giordano, called Fa Presto

Probably Petrosini, Rome, by 1684;
Probably Senator Antonio del Rosso by 1724;
With Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London, by 1992, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Oreste Ferrari and Guiseppe Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. L'opera completa, Naples, 1992, vol. 1, p. 308-09, A. 341, illustrated vol. 2, fig. 447, p. 648;
Italian Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox Gallery, London 1992, no. 5, unpaginated.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been recently restored and in its present frame should be hung as is. The canvas has been lined successfully using glue as an adhesive. The surface is stable, the texture is very good and in general, the painting is in lovely condition. Over time some structural damages have occurred which have required restoration, and while there is no abrasion to the paint layer per se, these structural damages and isolated paint losses have required retouches. These are particularly concentrated in the figure with the tambourine on the far left and in the woman standing above her. On the left side in general there are numerous isolated restorations. In particular there is a long vertical break in the canvas beginning in the shoulder of the woman turned away from us holding the flute and running to the bottom of the picture. As one moves towards the middle of the painting however, the condition improves and although again there are restorations visible under ultraviolet light, for instance in the waist of the child beneath Hercules, these restorations are considerably less numerous. It is possible that the picture was rolled at some point for storage or transportation and some of the old losses have resulted from this. Throughout the rest of the picture there are isolated spots of retouch here and there which have been applied very carefully and diligently. Nonetheless, the condition of this painting is still rather impressive and should be commended.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In a letter addressed to the Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany and dated 15 April 1684, Agnolo Doni, the Medici agent in Rome, writes that there were two pictures by Luca Giordano in the possession of a certain Petrosini, presumably a Roman merchant.  Two weeks later he commends the same two paintings in another letter to the Grand Duke, one of which he describes as Galatea with various tritons around and the other as Hercules spinning yarn with Iole and many other figures.¹ The latter painting, measuring "lunghi dodici palmi e alti otto" and corresponding to the dimensions of the present painting, was almost certainly the present painting.  The subject of Hercules and Omphale, Queen of Lydia, was often mistaken for that of Hercules and Iole or often seen as interchangeable (see Scavizzi literature) even though in the present case it is clearly identified by the figure to Hercules' left dressed in a lion skin with club.  Doni felt that Petrosini might be persuaded to reduce the price, though it appears he was unsuccessful because the picture was later recorded as belonging to Senator Antonio del Rosso in the catalogue of the exhibition of San Luca, Nota de' quadri che sono esposti per la Festa di S. Luca dagli Accademici del disegno of 18 October 1724.² The picture is not featured in the del Rosso family inventory of 1689, which would suggest that he acquired it at a later date.

Giordano's treatment of the present theme is quite extraordinary and indicative of a large visual repertoire, from which he synthesized and employed an incessantly varied and unique style.  In this composition, he eschews narrative detail in order to focus and amplify the magnificent emotional force across the foreground plane, while depicting a significant, though unspecific, moment of the story. Hercules, having been enslaved to Omphale since killing his friend Iphitus in a fit of madness, has traded his lion skin for the effeminate wear of Omphale's entourage and is pictured spinning yarn from the distaff above, so apparently comfortable that he gazes amorously over his right shoulder.  The position which he holds, a rather balletic pose that further emphasizes his effeminate conversion, recalls a similar type employed in the early 1680s, such as that in the Judgement of Solomon (Palazzo Pubblico, Siena), with the right arm reaching across the body and the left arm raised.

The complexly layered, geometric structure of the composition, with its arrangement like those across a frieze, bathed in beautiful theatrical lighting effects, is characteristic of those preferred by Giordano.  The remarkable and intricate interlinking of the figures seems to almost accelerate and free the suspended action which makes more resonant the work's emotional charge.  These relief-like compositions in which movement is slowed and narrative paraded across a shallow foreground plane owes much to the planar and classical quality of Roman art that Giordano would have been very familiar with since his first journey to Rome in 1652.  Applied in a freer and more painterly fashion, the brilliantly glowing paint and balanced color scheme is perhaps even more classical and less Riberesque, devoid of tenebristic modeling, agitated movements and drastic expressions that appear in Giordano's early formative work.  According to De' Dominici's account of Giordano's early training in Naples, while working in the studio of Jusepe de Ribera, perhaps in the late 30s and early 40s, Giordano spent day and night drawing in the manner of his master, copying his works, but also sometimes painting his own inventions: "copiava assai bene le cose del Maestro e facea qualche cosa anche da se, imitandole battaglie di Aniello Falcone, che essendo stato scolaro del Ribera frequentava quella scuola".³ The frieze-like arrangement in his pictures are reminiscent of Aniello Falcone and the ambitious scale and composition, particularly of his battle scenes, may have been part of the reason why, as De' Dominici goes on to say, "molte di queste pitture del Giordano son tenute in pregio"  His stylistic affinities show a more surprisingly similar blend of elements of various artists, including, and not limited to, the fluffy and swollen forms of Pietro Cortona and the free compositional rhythm of Giovanni Lanfranco.

Orazio Ferrari and Giuseppe Scavizzi date the present painting c. 1983-84 when Giordano had just returned to Naples from his sojourns in Florence from 1680-81 and 1682-83, where he had frescoed the ceiling of the Galleria Medici Riccardi and the dome of Corsini chapel in S. Maria del Carmine.  From the 1670s onwards, the influence of Pietro da Cortona is increasingly noticeable, including those of the Venetian masters that have long been recognized, principally in the architectural settings of Veronese and the rather vibrant colors of Titian.  That Giordano created such monumental paintings with such facility, achieving a very balanced sense of color and liberated handling of paint, most similar to Jacopo Bassano, is clearly seen and crowned by the harmonious ethos of Hercules and Omphale, a phase that can be called the happiest of his career.

 

1  This letter is dated 29 April 1986 and can be found along with other in M. Gualandi, Nuova raccolta di lettere sulla pittura, scultura, ed architettura, scritte da' più celebri personaggi dei secoli XV. a XIX. Bologna, 1856, vol. 3, p. 212, nos. 414 and 416.
2   According to De Dominici, Giordano formed relations with the del Rosso family in Florence beginning in 1665, having even stayed with the family while in Florence in 1682.  See Painting in Naples: 1606-1705: From Caravaggio to Giordano, exh. cat., 1982, pp. 168-180.
3  B. De' Dominici, Vite de' Pittori Scultori ed Architetti Napoletani, Naples 1742 (1979 ed.), vol. III, p. 395.