Luca Giordano was one of the most celebrated and prolific painters of his time. He was a versatile artist who created altarpieces, mythological paintings, and decorative frescoes for palaces and churches. Giordano began his career in Naples. During his extensive travels, he learned not only to imitate the styles of others artists, but also to absorb their influences. Working throughout Italy and Spain, his rapid technique and enormous output earned him the nickname Luca fa presto, meaning “Luca works quickly.”
Giordano was best known for his large-scale ceiling paintings. Allegory of Prudence is a preliminary oil sketch for part of a ceiling created for the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence. The former Medici palace was purchased by the Riccardi family in 1669. That same year, construction began on a new wing intended to house an art collection and reception rooms that were to be open to the public. In 1682 the Riccardis commissioned Giordani to paint the gallery ceilings in fresco, a method of painting directly onto wet plaster. Giordano completed the work in 1685.
A number of Giordano’s oil sketches for this commission survive, including Allegory of Prudence. In the center of the composition is Prudence, one of the four cardinal virtues (the others being Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance). Personified as a woman, Prudence is shown with her usual attributes, a mirror, signifying the idea that wise people are able to see themselves as they really are, and a serpent, from the biblical passage in Matthew 10:16, which exhorts “Be ye wise as serpents.” (The Latin word for “wise” is prudentes.) Next to her is a deer, another symbol of prudence because it has to move cautiously in order to steady the weight of its antlers to retain its balance. At Prudence’s feet is a two-faced figure with animal feet that represents Fraud. In the shadows to the right is Ignorance (also called Obstinacy), holding a donkey’s head. At the lower left are two philosophers, one with a quadrant and the other with a compass, perhaps depicting Archimedes and Euclid, who personify Order and Reason (or Experience). In the sky, from left to right, are Abundance, with a cornucopia and caduceus (a staff with two serpents, symbol of the medical profession); Grace, carrying flowers and a key (the Riccardi family symbol); and Health, holding a shield and a cup.
Allegory of Prudence exemplifies Giordano’s mastery of the Baroque, a style that flourished in Italy during the 17th century. The Baroque style stresses balance and wholeness within a work of art. The writer Giovanni Bellori, a contemporary of Giordano, likened this quality to the harmony of a choir, with no particular voice being distinguishable. Instead, what is important is the blending of elements to create an overall effect. The Baroque style contains strong diagonal lines and curves, such as those created by twisting limbs and swirling drapery of the figures in this painting.
Giordano seldom made preparatory drawings, preferring to paint directly onto canvas. For large-scale works, including the Riccardi commission, he created fully realized oil paintings. Careful study of Allegory of Prudence reveals several changes made by Giordano, indicating that the painting truly is a preliminary drawing. For example, it is evident that Prudence was once shown facing in the other direction, looking up toward Abundance.
