Elements derived from other artists
Pietro da Cortona, The
Triumph of Divine Providence,
Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
Giordano derived isolated figures,
physical types and various compositional
devices from Cortona’s fresco, as can be
seen in the group of Hercules’ Combat
with the Giants. In addition, he brazenly
copied the figure of Fury (reproduced in
reverse), the woman holding up her chains
(Servitude, arranged in a different pose
in order to maintain a sense of symmetry
with the other Sibyls), Fame, flying over
the whole group and Public Wellbeing,
which forms a pair with Abundance.
Tommaso Campanella, a print
published in the 1653 edition of De
Monarchia Hispanica.
Giordano took this model for the group of
the Spanish Monarchy (located at the far
west end). Spain bearing the four
sceptres and cartouche on which is
written OMNIBUS UNUS. The figures of the
vanquished and the trophies on the right:
the lion, hydra and on the left the crown
and jewels below the figures’ feet. For
the figure of Spain, the most important
element in the composition, Giordano
re-used the figure of Divine Wisdom that
he had painted as part of the decorative
scheme for the reading room of the
library in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi,
Florence.
Jan Hevelius and Johannes van
Keulen, atlas
illustrations.
Giordano derived the celestial vault from printed atlas illustrations by these artists, taking the details from the first and the figures and their poses from the second.
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Pietro da Cortona, Triunfo de la Divina Providencia, 1633-39. Roma, bóveda del palacio Barberini.
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Thommaso Campanella, De Monarchia Hispanica, 1653. Portada
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Jan Hevelius, Firmamentum, Sobiescianum, sive Uranographia,1690. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional
