A group of six oil-on-copper mythological scenes by Luca Giordano, $55,000 (£43,100) at Brunk.
Known as Fa Presto (‘does it quickly’) because of his speed of painting, his dramatic religious and mythological subjects were in demand in Rome, Venice (where he travelled in 1667), Florence (1680- 82) and Madrid (1692-1702), as well as in Naples.
Giordano painted many large-scale canvases but here the artist is working on a more intimate scale. Similar sets of copper panels were incorporated into late 17th century furniture - a good example being a cabinet on stand c.1670 in the collection of the Dubrovnik Cultural
Giordano painted many large-scale canvases but here the artist is working on a more intimate scale. Similar sets of copper panels were incorporated into late 17th century furniture - a good example being a cabinet on stand c.1670 in the collection of the Dubrovnik Cultural History Museum.
One of the six oil-on-copper mythological scenes by Luca Giordano that sold for $55,000 (£43,100) at Brunk.
The subjects of these six 6 x 6in (15 x 15cm) paintings at Brunk on March 7 were: Mars and Venus; The Death of Lucretia; Pan and Syrinx; Olindo and Sophronia; Hercules, Nessus, and Deianira; and Diana and Endymion.
The Italian-style stippled and giltwood frames were made by Lowy, New York. With an earlier provenance to the Suida-Manning collection (most of which is now in the Blanton Museum of Art, Texas), the set had been bought from Robert Simon Fine Art, New York, in 2007 for $300,000.
They were offered by Brunk with a far more modest guide of $25,000- 35,000 and hammered for $55,000 (£43,100) as 62 people watched on Live Auctioneers.
