Capture of a Stronghold
Ca. 1697. Oil on canvas.Room Luca Giordano
Luca Giordano decorated three spaces in the Casón, an outbuilding of the Buen Retiro Palace, Madrid. The first was the central hall, which still exists, where he painted the fresco Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy, as well as sixteen scenes of the Labours of Hercules, now sadly lost.
Two galleries that flanked this hall were destroyed in the late nineteenth century. The eastern one led to a garden, and the western to the palace. For the latter, Giordano painted The taking of a stronghold, c. 1697-1700, and two other canvases that now hang at the Aranjuez Palace, Madrid.
These also depict battles from Ferdinand the Catholic’s capture of Granada in the late fifteenth century. The fourth painting for that pavilion has been lost. Above those works, Giordano painted frescoes with the same subject in two sections of the dome, and variations on the Four Cardinal Virtues in two other sections. He occupied the pendentives with images of the Four Parts of the World. Besides the three surviving canvases, we know parts of the rest from eight prints and some preparatory drawings of details.
The compositions of the three extant paintings are clearly related. Each has a leading figure on horseback that is perfectly differentiated from the rest. The particular clothing that they wear suggests Giordano may have consulted period portraits or books. In contrast, he made no effort at all to illustrate specific scenes, instead repeating a series of battle images that capture the confusion and violence of war while making it impossible to identify them as particular events. The only narrative element is in the Museo del Prado’s painting: a kneeling figure who looks more Turkish than Nasrid and who points to the fortress in the background as though accepting his defeat and surrendering his stronghold.
The authors of the decorative program at the Casón, which was intended to praise Charles II, were unable to equal the panorama at the same palace’s Hall of Kingdoms, which commemorated battles won by the King’s father, Philip IV. The succession of humiliating defeats suffered by Charles II throughout his reign made such a project impossible. So, given the inescapable need to represent Spain’s military power in a space with such symbolic uses, the artists opted for depictions of Ferdinand the Catholic (1452-1516). This deliberate vagueness must be understood as a careful strategy followed in all of the Casón’s decoration.
Significantly, the King himself is absent from its abundant references to the grandeur of the Spanish Monarchy, appearing only in the form of mythological associations (Hercules). This well-preserved work shows numerous pentimenti in the haunches and ears of the leading figure’s horse, in the torso and arms of the rider whose back is turned to the viewer and in the back legs of the dead horse in the foreground. It was restored between October 2006 and July 2007. Giordano’s technique in works from this time is very characteristic of his final period in Spain, distinguished by a rapid and direct touch. The foregrounds are more carefully crafted, with precise contours that bring out the highlights and volumes. The taking of a stronghold becomes increasingly sketchy from the middle to background, and the diminishing amount of paint makes the primer more visible (Úbeda de los Cobos, A.: Italian Masterpieces. From Spain`s Royal Court, Museo del Prado, 2014, p. 216).
