GIORDANO, LUCA, called FA PRESTO

LOVE AND VICES DISARM JUSTICE

This subject described in Cesare Ripa's Iconology (1984) is often found in Italian painting of the Baroque period, including the works of Giordano and his circle. Compositions on this subject are to be found in the Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest), the collection of Count Harrah in Rorau Castle, and in the Städtelsches Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt am Main) dated 1664. As regards quality of execution, the Moscow work exceeds all the above mentioned.

Provenance: acquired for the Hermitage from I.E.Gotskovskii (Berlin) in 1763; transferred to the Rumyanstev Museum (Moscow) in 1862; in the Pushkin Museum since 1924.