Luca Giordano

(Napoli, 1634 - 1705)

Oil on canvas

cm. 94,5x75,5. Framed

The painting is accompanied by an expertise by Prof. Nicola Spinosa.

This Saint Jerome Penitent depicts the saint in meditation before the Crucifix, striking his chest with a stone and holding a skull, in accordance with established devotional iconography. The painting has been attributed to Luca Giordano by Professor Nicola Spinosa, who recognizes its secure autograph status on the basis of its formal coherence and intense naturalistic expression. The work belongs to the early phase of the Neapolitan master’s career, datable to circa 1650–55, when his language still reflects Ribera’s influence, reinterpreted with growing independence. As noted by Spinosa, the composition shows close stylistic and typological affinities with Giordano’s early works, including the Saint Onuphrius in Naples, the Saint Jerome in Prayer in Asolo, and the Death of Seneca in Munich. The pronounced riberesque lighting and sculptural force of the figure are tempered by a refined handling of expression, anatomy and drapery, attesting to Giordano’s precocious pictorial maturity.