Job and His Comforters
Luca Giordano·1668
Historical Context
Job and His Comforters at the Smithsonian depicts the suffering patriarch visited by friends who offer philosophical consolation. The subject tested artists' ability to convey both physical suffering and the theological debate between Job and his visitors. 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 eclecticism — absorbing Ribera, T...
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.
