LUCA GIORDANO (Naples, 1632 - 1705) Madonna and Child (1675-1680) Oil on canvas, 94X76 cm Provenance: Private collection The work can be dated to the 1780s and this can be perceived from its 'monumental' character and the influence of Roman art, here interpreted for exquisitely devotional purposes and in which the author expresses all his expressive delicacy. In fact, one cannot overlook how the author sublimely reinterprets Renaissance models in a Baroque key, offering a transposed image of an iconography that describes the melancholy and sweetness of the Virgin gazing at the sleeping Child. These are the details that denote Luca Giordano's extraordinary inventiveness and his talent for renewing established iconographies, placing sacredness on the plane of a humanity that few authors of his era achieved. We thank Nicola Spinosa for the attribution. Reference bibliography: O. Ferrari, G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. L'opera completa, Naples 2000, ad vocem Luca Giordano (1634-1705), exhibition catalogue edited by N. Spinosa, Naples 2001, ad vocem G. Scavizzi, G. de Vito, Luca Giordano giovane 1650-1664, Napoli 2012, ad vocem G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. Nuove opere, Todi 2024, p. 43 n. 130