Luca Giordano in the Casón del Buen Retiro

Luca Giordano was born in Naples in 1634. Son of a modestly talented artist, he seems to have received his first training in the studio of José de Ribera, remaining there for eight years according to his biographers. There is evidence of an early trip to Rome around 1652 where the artist was particularly attracted to the art of Antiquity, the Renaissance and the work of Pietro da Cortona. On his return to Naples, Giordano developed a distinctive style influenced by Mattia Preti and Rubens. Another important trip for his artistic education was the one to Florence and Venice in 1665, and the art of Veronese in the latter city particularly influenced him. At the end of the 1770s, Giordano became a fully established painter of large mural schemes, of which the most important is the gallery of the Medici-Ricardi Palace in Florence (1685).

Giordano’s work soon began to arrive in Spain, including The Massacre of the Innocents, which was already in El Escorial in 1667. Giordano’s career was in fact associated from an early date with Spaniards living in Naples, while he later undertook commissions for the Spanish monarch. Messina returned to Spain constitute the earliest evidence of the artist’s lifelong association with Spain.

This room displays small-format works executed in a loose technique. Paintings of this type are normally termed “preliminary sketches” although they may not all have functioned in this way. Three of them (from a set of four) relate to the frieze on the staircase of the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which was built to commemorate the victory of the Spanish army over the French at the Battle of Saint Quentin on 10 August 1557, Saint Lawrence’s day. These sketches are among Giordano’s first Spanish works and he executed them to the best of his abilities, knowing that they would have to be approved by his new patron, the Spanish king.

In addition, this room also includes two equestrian portraits of Charles II and Mariana of Neuburg, the king’s second wife. They are painted in a delicate, almost miniaturist technique, suggesting that they may not be preliminary sketches. Also on display are two religious scenes (Saint Bridget saved from a Shipwreck by the Virgin and The Assumption of the Virgin), whose original purpose is unknown.

Giordano revealed a surprising ability to imitate others artists throughout his career. Not only did he copy their style but also used old supports and developed sophisticated techniques for artificially ageing the appearance of these works. On occasions he also faked the signature of the artist in question, as can be seen here in the two Holy Families in the style of Raphael which bear Raphael’s monogram. On a very few occasions Giordano even concealed his own signature in the work in order to be able to prove his authorship if necessary.

This practice of imitating the work of others is now the most disconcerting aspect of Giordano’s art. There is no doubt that he used his skills to increase his prestige, proving himself capable of deceiving the finest connoisseurs living in Naples, as well as Charles II himself, shortly after the artist’s arrival in Madrid. His clients, who in his early years felt deceived by this practice, would eventually, during the Spanish period, commission works “alla manera di”, which were by that date considered evidence of Giordano’s skills.

Giordano lived in Spain from 1692 to 1702, working for Charles II on the production of various mural projects and numerous oil paintings. His style evolved in Spain and he developed a lighter palette and a looser, richer brushstroke in a manner that anticipated 18th-century painting. He returned to Naples as a consequence of the War of Spanish Succession, which brought Philip V to the Spanish throne, although in fact, Philip held Giordano in high esteem. In Naples he continued to work for the Spanish monarch on projects such as the paintings that were to complete the decoration of the royal chapel in the Alcázar, a commission of 1703 that remained unfinished at his death which took place on 3 January 1705.

Many Spanish painters were fascinated by his art, most notably Miguel Jacinto Meléndez (1679-1734) and Antonio Acisclo Palomino (1655-1726), the latter a regular associate of Giordano. The most important of the artists to be captivated by Giordano’s art was, however, Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), who had been interested by him since his earliest youth. Goya’s tapestry cartoons of the 1770s and 1780s reveal a clear interest in emulating Giordano’s work, particularly in details such as the physical types of the children. However, this influence is most noticeable in Goya’s frescoes.

Luca Giordano, known in Spain as Lucas Jordán, painted the ceiling of the Casón around 1696-97. The artist had been summoned by Charles II in 1692 to decorate the staircase and ceilings of the Basilica of El Escorial (1692-1694). He then moved on to the decoration of the king’s office and bedroom (the latter now lost) in the Palace of Aranjuez; the Casón del Buen Retiro (ca.1697); the Sacristy of Toledo Cathedral (1698); the Royal Chapel of the Alcázar (now lost); and San Antonio de los Portugueses, Madrid (1699). The ascent to the throne of Philip V in 1701 and the start of the War of Spanish Succession prompted Giordano’s return to Naples in 1702. He died there in 1705, leaving behind a very extensive oeuvre and a considerable fortune.

The subject represented on the ceiling of the Casón is The Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy, painted during the reign of Charles II, the last monarch of the Habsburg dynasty. The composition features various scenes that glorify the historic grandeur of Spain, its extensive dominions, its triumph over heresy and the founding of the Order of the Golden Fleece.