During his life, Luca Giordano enjoyed a popularity in both Italy and Spain that plummeted after his death, due to two prejudices that have lasted until quite recently. The first was an association of his surprising speed as a painter with the idea that his work was somehow superficial, an accusation constantly leveled at him by advocates of the Greco-Roman aesthetic. The second stemmed from his s
He studied in Madrid with Jerónimo Antonio Ezquerra and Miguel Jacinto Meléndez, and according to Ceán, his first work consisted of two paintings based on drawings by Meléndez for the church of San Felipe el Real in Madrid: “Saint Augustine Calling Up a Plague of Locusts” and “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz”. A protege of the Prince of Asturias and future King Ferdinand VI, he was appointed cham