(Naples 1634–1705)
Saint Peter healing Saint Agatha,
signed bottom right: Luca Gio[r]dan[o] / F.,
oil on canvas, 181 x 129 cm, framed

Provenance:
probably Agostino Correggio collection, Venice, before 1670;
probably Giovan Donato Correggio collection, Venice, 1670, (‘…Un quadro con sant’Agata seduta in terra, con Gioseppe che l’ha visitata in prigione e vola in cielo con due groppi d’angioli in aria del signor Luca Giordano da Napoli comprai da mio fratello costa d.120’);
probably Giovan Donato Correggio collection, Venice, Palazzo San Cassiano, portico, 1674 (‘Doi quadri con soaze dorate pittura del Giordano da Napoli uno di Sant’Agata e l’altra di San Giovanni Boccadero’);
Private collection, Venice, 19th century;
Private European collection

Documentation:
Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Fraterna grande di Sant’Antonin, Commissaria Correggio, b. 6, Inventario dè quadri, gioie e mobile della casa Correggio esistenti in Venezia e fuori, 1670, c. 30r;
Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Fraterna grande di Sant’Antonin, Commissaria Correggio, b. 6, Inventario topografico del Palazzo di San Cassiano, c. 120v

Literature:
L. Borean, La quadreria di Agostino e Domenico Correggio nel collezionismo veneziano del Seicento, Udine 2000, pp. 128, 190, 196

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution after inspection of the present painting in the original.

The painting is signed bottom-right with the rapid signature that can be found in archival documents signed by Luca Giordano. We are grateful to Eduardo Nappi, Director of the Archivio storico del Banco di Napoli, who kindly examined the signature of the present painting and compared it to autograph signatures by Luca Giordano in banking documents conserved in the Archivio storico del Banco di Napoli which are dated to between 1663 and 1666.

The present painting is most probably the one described in the inventory of Giovan Donato Correggio (1608-1674) in his Palace San Cassiano on the Grand Canal, Venice: '...Un quadro con sant’Agata seduta in terra, con Gioseppe che l’ha visitata in prigione e vola in cielo con due groppi d’angioli in aria del signor Luca Giordano da Napoli comprai da mio fratello costa d.120' (op. cit. Borean, 2000, p. 190). The description in the inventory reflects the subject of the present painting and it is interesting to note that dots at the beginning of the description are considered to be an expression of the high opinion the author had of the painting.

Stylistically the composition corresponds to a date of execution of circa 1664 or 1665. The painting described in the inventory was bought in 1670 by Giovan Donato from his brother Agostino, together with other two works by Giordano representing a Paradise and a Saint John Chrysostom and he paid 120 ducats. It is possible that the work had been commissioned or that it was acquired from an agent.

The Correggio family were merchants who originally came from Bergamo. Orazio, the father of Agostino and Giovan Donato, moved to Venice during the 16th century. He traded in hides, oil, wine, spices and flour. By 1646 the Correggio had become part of the patricians of Venice. Agostino Correggio was in touch with Luca Giordano thought the Marquis Agostino Fonseca, who shared many interest with him, such as trading and commercial activities.

Giovan Donato (1608-1674) dedicated all his life to his collection of art and among the paintings of his ‘quadreria’ were works by Bernardo Strozzi (Portrait of Donato as Perseus, Dijon, Musée Magnin), Carlo Dolci, Salvator Rosa, Mattia Preti, Tintoretto and Guercino.

The present painting presents stylistic features which are consistent with the early work of the painter, particularly during his stay in Venice in 1664 (and 1665?). It should be noted that even in 1667 the painter was still working on important commissions in the Venetian Lagoon, such as the Assumption of the Virgin in the Church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice. Luca Giordano's relationship with private clients, religious institutions and Venetian merchants would continue until the commission of the other paintings for the Chiesa della Salute in the early 1670s, and indeed lasted for most of his career or until his departure for Spain following his appointment as court painter in Madrid in 1692. The Annunciation for the Church of San Nicola di Tolentino in Venice also dates from the 1660s (see O. Ferrari, G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. L’opera completa, Naples 1992; and G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano giovane, in: G. De Vito/G. Scavizzi (ed.), 1650-1664, Naples 2008, pp. 126-139).

The backlighting effect of the figures of the apostles in the Assumption and the group of cherubs at the top right of the Annunciation are respectively comparable to the figure of Saint Peter in flight and the glory of cherubs proffering the palm of martyrdom to the Saint in the present painting. In an undoubtedly later drawing, Giordano revisited the posture of the Saint, which also shows aspects that recall the famous painting of the same subject by Massimo Stanzione, today in Naples, Museo di Capodimonte (see O. Ferrari/G. Scavizzi, op.cit., II, p. 879, fig. 980, plate D38). The composition of the present painting revives that of a painting that was fundamental to Giordano's training: the Death of Saint Alexis by Pietro da Cortona in the church of the Gerolomini in Naples, a work from the 1640s that was revisited by Giordano in his early painting in Naples, in the church of Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

Also typical of this stage in Giordano's career is the combination of fluid paint layers and soft edges, a neo-Venetian style, in the flesh tones of the figures, which, however, are dressed in firmly ‘sculpted’ drapery consistent with an approach current in the 17th century. The same may be said of the objective rendering of the bonds holding the saint in the two lower corners of the painting.

In the present work, Luca Giordano clearly reveals all the features of his personal reinterpretation of the Venetian tradition, while adapting these inclinations to a wholly 17th century sensitivity, apparent in the sense of detail and in the powerful chiaroscuro. The dating of the work in the mid-1660s, and in particular in Giordano's Venetian period, is underlined by the fact that the artist has chosen to depict a drama in an unconventional way that does not conform to the Neapolitan tradition, but instead aspires to form a link with the artistic traditions of Venice.

The painting shows one of the miracles associated with the martyrdom of Saint Agatha, who was imprisoned after suffering the torture of having her breasts removed. The Saint was miraculously healed by Saint Peter, who appeared in her cell and treated her with miraculous ointments and thereby healing her wounds. The following day, the Saint suffered her martyrdom of burning coals.

The choice of depicting Saint Agatha naked, only partly covered by a red cape, is unusual. This solution, which emphasizes the image of the Martyr as an icon fixed as a heroic nude, barely touched by the wounds visible on the breast, seems to reflect a specific iconographic choice. The fair skin and blonde hair of the Saint are themselves a tribute to Titian, who was much admired by Luca Giordano throughout his long and illustrious career.

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for his help in cataloguing the present painting.


Additional images:
Fig. 1: Signature on the present painting
Fig. 2: Signature on a document
Courtesy Archivio di Stato di Napoli