Christ Among the Doctors

Download4000 × 3955 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Luca Giordano (Italian, 1632–1705)
Medium: Fresco on lime on a wicker support
Size: 43 9/16 × 43 9/16 in. (110.6 × 110.6 cm) (sight, tondo)
Museum: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rights: Public Domain Mark

Luca Giordano was one of the most prolific, innovative, and successful painters to emerge in Naples in the 17th century. His facility and speed of execution earned him the nickname ‘fa presto’ (‘make it quick’). His prodigious output and glittering, charismatic grand Baroque style made him an international star. He was active in Naples, Rome, Venice, and Florence, and served as court painter to Charles II in Spain.

“Christ Among the Doctors, ” was commissioned by Andrea Del Rosso during the painter’s stay in Florence in 1685-86. Del Rosso, who had met Giordano in Naples on a business trip, was likely the person responsible for introducing Giordano to his many Florentine patrons, including the Medici. Del Rosso hosted the painter in his family’s palace in the 1680s. This is one of four frescoes Giordano executed for Del Rosso on wicker support.

This new 'portable' fresco painting type had been invented in Florence in the 17th century—the wicker support inventively allowed wall murals to be movable. Giordano delighted in the possibilities of the medium, executing the work in just two days in a virtuoso painterly technique. Adopting the quintessential Florentine format of the tondo, or circular painting, Giordano created a harmonious, yet dynamic composition, with dramatic poses, lively expressions, and theatrical lighting.

Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.