(1662-1728) Study after the former ceiling fresco "S. Benedetto riconosce Rigo sotte le spoglie di Totila" in Monte Cassino abbey, after Luca Giordano, pen and brown ink, grey wash on laid paper, a fragment of a female figure study in red chalk on the reverse, 40,2 x 26,7 cm, inscribed "Luca Giordano" by another hand on the reverse, numbered "No.13", mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Literature: For comparable drawings see: G. Scavizzi, “Drawings by artists in Giordano’s circle: Simonelli, Malinconico and De Matteis”, in: Master Drawings, 37.1999, pp. 238–261; O. Ferrari/ G. Scavizzi, Luca Gioradno: L’opera completa, Mailand 1992, pp. 62–63, 389, 413, 599, Figs. 338/339.

We are grateful to Prof.Giuseppe Scavizzi for the scientific support.

The present drawing is a study after one of the former ceiling frescos by Luca Giordano in the vaults of Monte Cassino abbey (c. 1667). The frescoes with its illustrations from the life of Saint Benedict which were destroyed during the Second World War are only known through photographic documentary in the Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale in Rome and through several preliminary drawings by Luca Giordano. The present scene is illustrating the moment when Saint Benedict is to receive Totila, the king of the Goths in order to prophesy him his destiny. Instead of coming himself Totila sent his sword-bearer Rigo disguised in the royal vestments and in the company of the royal retinue to the saint who, however, discovers the deception. Benedict condemned the king’s conduct and predicted his future and that he would conquer Rome, would cross the sea, rule nine years and die in the tenth year of his regime. A preliminary drawing by Giordano for the lost ceiling fresco is preserved in the Gallerie Nazional in Oslo (Inv.15110; comp. O. Ferrari/ G. Scavizzi 1992, p. 599, Fig. 338/339). A stylistically comparable drawing by Paolo de Matteis with a study for an “Allegory of wisdom and the Arts” is kept in the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt (comp. G. Scavizzi 1999, p. 251, Fig. 18).