Job and His Comforters
Luca Giordano·1668
Historical Context
Giordano's Job and His Comforters depicts the Old Testament patriarch surrounded by the three friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — who came to comfort him in his affliction but whose speeches became exercises in theological justification of his suffering. The Book of Job, one of the Hebrew Bible's most philosophically sophisticated texts, explored the problem of innocent suffering through a dramatic dialogue between Job and his comforters, whose conventional theodicy (suffering as punishment for sin) was ultimately rejected by God in favor of Job's honest complaint. Giordano's treatment of this philosophical subject required depicting both the physical reality of Job's suffering — the skin disease, the loss of family and wealth — and the intellectual atmosphere of theological debate. The subject was popular with learned collectors who saw in Job's situation a meditation on human existence and divine justice that transcended conventional devotional purpose.
Technical Analysis
Job's afflicted body contrasts with the more composed figures of his comforters, creating dramatic tension. Giordano's handling of the diseased flesh and the visitors' varied expressions demonstrates his narrative skill.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice Job's afflicted body contrasted with the more composed figures of his comforters — Giordano renders physical suffering with the same unflinching naturalism he brings to martyr subjects.
- ◆Look at the varied expressions of the visiting comforters: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar each offer philosophical consolation with different degrees of compassion and certainty that Giordano captures through facial expression and gesture.
- ◆Find the dramatic lighting that isolates Job's suffering figure: Giordano uses chiaroscuro to make the sufferer the composition's luminous focus amid the surrounding shadows.
- ◆Observe that the Smithsonian's collection holds this work — American national museum holdings of Italian Baroque painting reflect the significant collecting that built American public collections during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
