Luca Giordano, genannt „Luca fa Presto“, 1634 Neapel – 1705 ebenda SAN FRANCESCO DI PAOLO IN ECSTASY Oil on canvas. Doubled. 74 x 63 cm. In ebonized profile frame with gold trim. Accompanied by an expertise by Nicola Spinosa, Naples, July 20, 2021, confirming Giordano's authorship, copy. A version of St. Francis of Paola by Jusepe de Ribera (1588/ 91-1652), which probably inspired Giordano, is kept in the Capodimonte Museum. Half-length portrait of the saint, who founded the Pauline Order and died in France, facing left. The monk's habit, the hands and beard as well as the upturned eyes reflect the glistening divine light shining down from the top left. The broken staff in particular, with its fragmentarily preserved upper end, can be found in several versions by Luca Giordano. The painter, who was particularly famous for his frescoes, was the son of an art dealer from Apulia who also devoted himself to painting. He received his first lessons from his father, although it is generally assumed that he was a pupil of Jusepe de Ribera (1588/91-1652). Several of his works also show his influence, while Giordano's enormously extensive oeuvre shows that he mastered all the stylistic variations of his time. The breadth of subject matter in his work, in all areas of history painting, religious depictions, but also mythological scenes, also shows influences initially from the Caravaggists, but later also from the painters Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669), Mattia Preti (1613-1699) and Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). The Venetian masters such as Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), Tiziano Vecellio (1485/89-1576) and Domenico Robusti Tintoretto (1560-1635) can also be seen in the composition of some of his works. Giordano was a pupil of Jusepe de Ribera (1588/91-1652), worked after his father's apprenticeship in Rome under Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) and was soon honored with countless commissions to decorate Italian palaces with frescoes and oil paintings. Practiced in a quick, rapid painting style, he was able to create more works than his colleagues. In 1690 he was appointed to Spain, where he worked for 13 years under Charles II and was made a knight. During this time, he produced his best works in the church of San Lorenzo in Escorial. Literature: Cf. Oreste Ferrari, Giuseppe Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples 2000 (1400753) (3) (13) Luca Giordano, also known as "Luca fa Presto", 1634 Naples - 1705 ibid. SAN FRANCESCO DI PAOLO IN ECSTASY Oil on canvas. Relined. 74 x 63 cm. Accompanied by an expert's report by Nicola Spinosa, Naples, 20 July 2021, confirming the Giordano as the creator of the present painting, in copy. Literature: cf. O. Ferrari and G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples 2000.