Apollo in his Chariot
Luca Giordano·1685
Historical Context
Apollo in His Chariot at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, painted around 1685, belongs to the productive decade between Giordano's triumphant Florentine commissions and his departure for Spain. The sun god driving his chariot across the sky was supremely suited to ceiling decoration, and Giordano was producing numerous such compositions as his reputation attracted palace patrons across Italy. Apollo subjects also served as compliments to patrons who styled themselves solar rulers — an association Louis XIV had made central to French royal imagery and which Italian aristocrats eagerly adopted. The relatively modest scale of this Boston canvas, 118.5 by 176.5 centimeters, suggests a modello or independent work rather than a ceiling panel. Giordano's command of foreshortened figures seen from below — the di sotto in su perspective essential for ceiling painting — is evident even in this easel-format work.
Technical Analysis
The radiant chariot and plunging horses create a dynamic celestial composition. Giordano's characteristic warm palette and bold brushwork capture the sun god's blazing passage across the sky.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the radiant chariot and plunging horses creating a dynamic celestial composition: Giordano renders the sun god's daily journey as a scene of explosive equestrian energy.
- ◆Look at the warm palette capturing Apollo's blazing passage: the solar deity is rendered in the golden tones appropriate to the sun itself — warm ochres and bright yellows against the blue sky.
- ◆Find the dramatic foreshortening of the horses seen from below: the ceiling-painting format requires the viewer to imagine themselves beneath the sun's chariot as it passes overhead.
- ◆Observe that Boston's circa 1685 Apollo exists alongside multiple other Giordano subjects in the collection — the museum's holdings allow comparison of his handling of mythological, religious, and allegorical subjects across his career.
