(Naples 1634–1705)
The Drunkenness of Noah,
oil on canvas, 119 x 105 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Madrid;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Giuseppe Scavizzi and Riccardo Lattuada for independently confirming the attribution of the present painting.

The present composition relates to Luca Giordano’s painting conserved in the Escorial (inv. no. 10014806), executed between 1666-1667. This painting was almost certainly the product of a royal commission (see O. Ferrari, G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano: l’opera completa, Naples 2000, p. 280 cat. no. A186, illustrated p. 562). As a painter was forbidden to replicate a work executed for the king, without his permission it is possible that the present painting was a ‘bozzettone’ submitted to the king for the work now at the Escorial, or a replica for someone close to the royal family. Indeed, on account of its size, it could be argued this painting was probably the ‘modello’ for the larger painting in the Escorial (224 x 192 cm.) painted by Giordano as the pendant to Job on the Dung Hill which from 1667 were located together in the Monastery of the Escorial according to documentary records (see A. E. Pérez Sánchez in: Luca Giordano y España, exhibition catalogue, ed. by A. E. Pérez Sánchez, Madrid 2002, p. 124, cat. no. 13).

The present painting, like the canvas in the Escorial, must have been painted before 1667, perhaps around 1665 when Luca Giordano resumed elaborating on the realist example of Caravaggio and Ribera’s work in Naples, which he had initially turned to for inspiration during his youth. This return to a naturalistic approach, spanning several years from 1662, while revealing attention to the description of realistic detail in the anatomies, features and expressions of the figures, did not preclude the artist’s use of dense layering of brilliant warm colour, as seen for example in the handling of the red mantle used by Noah’s sons to cover their father.

The story of the Drunkenness of Noah is recounted in the Old Testament book of Genesis (9: 21-23). Noah was found drunk and naked by his children Shem and Japheth who covered him with a mantle while his third son, Cham looking on, derided him. The subject is considered an anticipation of the Mocking of Christ and was frequently represented by leading artists.