Luca Giordano, called Fa Presto

Querini Stampalia collection, Venice (as a set of a four representing Heraclitus, Democritus and another unidentified philosopher; see footnote below);
Acquired by Luigi Gaudio, Padua, in circa 1808 (together with Democritus and other paintings from the Querini Stampalia collection);
With Copercini and Giuseppin, Padua, by 1983 (together with Democritus).

Naples, Museo di Capodimonte, Civiltà del '600 a Napoli, 24 October 1984 - 14 April 1985, no. 2.117b (lent by Signori Copercini and Giuseppin, Padua).

O. Ferrari & G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples 1966, vol. I, pp. 31-32, and vol. II, p. 20;
G. Pavanello, Pitture inedite del '600 e '700 veneto, Padua 1983, pp. 28-29, nos. 4;
O. Ferrari, in Civiltà del '600 a Napoli, exhibition catalogue, Naples, Museo di Capodimonte, 24 October 1984 - 14 April 1985, pp. 308-9, cat. no. 2.117b, reproduced;
O. Ferrari, "L'iconografia dei filosofi antichi nella pittura del secolo XVII in Italia", in Storia dell'Arte, vol. 57, 1986, pp. 109, 116 and 170, footnotes 36 and 88, reproduced fig. 10;
O. Ferrari & G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. L'opera completa, Naples 1992, vol. I, pp. 14 and 254, cat. no. A23.d, reproduced vol. II, p. 473, fig. 90 (with earlier bibliography, also relating to Querini Stampalia philosophers).

The painting is warmer in tone and the brushwork is crisper than it appears in the catalogue illustration. The canvas has been relined and is mounted onto a new stretcher. There is a 2-3cm. extension along the upper edge. The painting appears to have been cleaned quite recently. The brushwork is beautifully preserved, especially on the figure and still-life elements. The impasto on the philosopher’s shoulder, head and beard is intact, as well as that on the pages of the book and the inkwell. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows very little restoration. A few retouchings occur in the background and darker areas. There is a damage lower right, underneath the open drawer, but this has been repaired well and is not obvious to the naked eye. Another damage occurs just to the left of the book, beneath the philosopher’s right wrist. The figure itself is intact except for careful localised strengthening to his forehead and nose profile (in shadow) as well as an area of shadow in his beard. These are minimal and are not obvious to the naked eye. The painting is in very good condition overall, especially for caravaggesque pictures that often show signs of wear in the darker tones. The painting can hang as it is. The gilt wood and plaster frame has some gilt rubbing off but is otherwise sound. A black-painted inner slip has been inserted to make the painting fit the frame.
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The painting is one of a set of four philosophers all of which were once in the Querini collection in Venice: two – Heraclitus and An unidentified philosopher – are now in the Pinacoteca della Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, and the current whereabouts of the third, showing Democritus, are unknown.¹  The set were split into two pairs some time in the early 19th century when this and the Democritus were acquired by the Paduan nobleman Luigi Gaudio. The 'pair' were divided some time after the 1984 exhibition in Naples (see under Exhibited).

This painting – and indeed the other three that once made up the set – has been dated by Ferrari and Scavizzi (see Literature) to circa 1650-53. It is an early work by the artist, executed at a time when he was heavily influenced by Jusepe de Ribera, with whom he is thought to have trained (though there is no documentary evidence proving this was actually the case). Giordano's philosophers from the 1650s are strongly reminiscent of Ribera's single-figure compositions of half-length saints and philosophers of the 1620s and '30s; many of which would have been accessible to Giordano in a number of important Neapolitan collections at the time, as noted by the biographer Bernardo De Dominici.²  Indeed confusion between the two artists' works led to many paintings by Giordano of this type being erroneously ascribed to the Spanish painter instead.³  Giordano's philosophers are normally shown half-length, in sharp contrast of light and shadow, against a dark background, accompanied by a number of attributes (such as books, scrolls, compasses or a mirror). Their identification is often unclear, though the artist is known to have had recourse to antique sculptures to represent Socrates, Seneca and Cato amongst others. Many of the philosophers are generically represented, however, and the figures are shown as beggars ('filosofi-mendicanti') or scientists ('filosofi-scienzati'); that is alchemists, mathematicians, geographers or astrologers. Few documented patrons of these paintings are known but one can assume that these 'philosophers' were commissioned by intellectuals who intended to hang them in their studies or libraries. The paintings allowed Giordano to represent different figure types and facial expressions, and though they were generally not portraits of real people Giordano is known to have represented both himself and his father as philosophers (the paintings are now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich).⁴  Here the aged philosopher is shown engrossed in writing, bent over his quill-pen in concentration, and the naturalistic details of both the man's sagging skin and the still life of books, ink-well and partially-opened drawer are remarkable.

The set of four paintings evidently enjoyed much popularity for numerous contemporary copies of the compositions exist.⁵  A studio variant of the present work is in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich: it is slightly smaller in scale (118 by 92 cm.) and there are some differences, the most notable being the inclusion of a lion's head in the foreground thus denoting that the man should be identified as Saint Jerome rather than a philosopher, as here.

1.  Inv. nos. 200/126 and 202/127 in the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice. All three are published in Ferrari & Scavizzi, under Literature, 1992, vol. I p. 254, cat. nos. A23.a, A.23.b and A.23.c, all reproduced vol. II, figs. 87-89.
2. Ribera's paintings could be found in Giordano's time in collections such as those of the Duca della Torre, Duca di Maddaloni, Principe di Avellino, and the third Duca di Alcalà, viceroy of Naples and Palermo.
3. Such as, for example, the two philosophers Heraclitus and Democritus in the Pinacoteca Civica Tosio Martinengo, Brescia; see Ferrari & Scavizzi, op. cit., vol. I, p. 254, cat. nos. A22.a and A22.b, both reproduced vol. II, figs. 85 and 86.
4. Inv. nos. 492 and 493; Ferrari & Scavizzi, ibid., vol. I, p. 255, cat. nos. A29.a and A.29.b, both reproduced vol. II, figs. 95 and 96.
5. Copies of three of the set of four (excluding Heraclitus) are in the Magliano collection, Rome; a replica of Heraclitus is in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia; an autograph replica of Democritus was sold, London, Christie's, 10 July 1998, lot 73.