Luca Giordano, called Fa Presto

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 not been restored for many years. The canvas has an old lining which could be resuscitated since the only structural issues are around the extreme edges and the painting itself is evenly textured and quite presentable. The paint layer is extremely presentable but one can see in the face, the hand and throughout the lighter areas that the condition is very good. Although it is likely that there are restorations around the edges and possibly some thinness in the darkest colors, the condition is quite impressive particularly given this kind of painting's tendency to be more discolored and worn.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The present painting appears to be an early, unpublished work by Luca Giordano. It was probably painted by the artist in Naples, 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 his biographer Bernardo De Dominici.¹ Another version of this particular composition is known, and is likely the prime example (see N. Spinosa, Luca Giordano 1634_1705, exhibition catalogue, Naples, Vienna and Los Angeles 2001, pp. 78-79, cat. no. 2), with the present work existing as an autograph replica. The source of the composition itself may derive from an original by Ribera, loosely described as a Filosofo allo Specchio (Meadows Museum, Dallas), in which a philosopher stares at himself in a mirror, perhaps an allusion to "self awarness," a central tenant Socratic thought.² 

Giordano's philosophers are traditionally shown half-length, in sharp contrast of light and shadow, against a dark background, and accompanied by a number of attributes. The artist was known to have looked to antique sculptures for inspiration for his images of Socrates, Seneca, Cato and other great thinkers. In the present composition, a possible source for the figure's head may be the bust of Socrates in the Farnese collection, now kept in the Museo Nazionale di Napoli.  Many of Giordano's philosophers are generically represented, in that they are often 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, as seen in the works in the Alte Pinakotheck, Munich.

1.  Ribera's paintings could be found in Giordano's time in collections such as those of the Duca della Tore, Duca di Maddaloni, Principe di Avellino, and the third Duca di Alcalà, viceroy of Naples and Palermo.
2.  See N. Spinosa, Ribera: L'opera Completa, Naples 2006, cat. no. A93.