Dives and Lazarus
Luca Giordano·c. 1670
Historical Context
Dives and Lazarus at Harvard depicts the biblical parable of the rich man and the beggar, a subject with obvious social commentary that resonated in Counter-Reformation art. The story's warning about the spiritual dangers of wealth and indifference to the poor carried pointed moral weight. Oil on canvas suited Giordano's rapid working method: he typically laid in compositions with fluid, transparent washes then built form with loaded brushwork, completing large canvases in days. His stylistic...
Technical Analysis
The contrast between the feast of Dives and the suffering of Lazarus creates a dramatic compositional divide. Giordano uses lighting and figure positioning to emphasize the moral opposition between wealth and poverty.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the dramatic compositional divide between the feast of Dives and the suffering of Lazarus — Giordano makes the moral opposition physical by separating wealth and poverty in the same visual space.
- ◆Look at the lighting's moral argument: the sumptuous feast is rendered in warm, inviting tones while Lazarus's suffering is placed in relative shadow, suggesting that earthly comfort casts spiritual darkness.
- ◆Find the dogs licking Lazarus's sores — the detail from Luke's Gospel that makes the beggar's misery specific and documented rather than abstract.
- ◆Observe that Harvard's Dives and Lazarus forms a pendant to the Lamentation, suggesting Giordano may have conceived these as companion subjects exploring the extremes of human experience.
