Resurrection

With outspread arms, Christ rises powerfully from the sealed grave towards heaven. His body is surrounded by a bright light which illuminates the clouds behind him and highlights individual body parts of the startled soldiers in the dark, giving the scene an even more theatrical quality. This is further enhanced by the illuminated legs of a soldier lying on the ground, the recoiling body of another on the right, and the semi-reclining Christ with outstretched left foot. The ochre clouds in the background are sketched with swiftly rotating brushstrokes, while the body of Jesus and the grave guards are carefully elaborated.
Giordano draws on his model Caravaggio, who lent his narrations dramatic tension by means of chiaroscuro effects, strong contrasts and foreshortening. The movement of the figures is in Venetian style. This demonstrated Giordano’s skill in imitating the style of numerous Renaissance masters, without simply copying it. He renders the biblical story of Christ’s resurrection with virtuosity. His entire oeuvre, however, shows little consistency.
The graphic collection of the Hessisches Nationalmuseum in Darmstadt contains a drawing of the Salzburg painting (inv. no. AE 1886). Comparable altar-pieces from around 1665 can be found in the Santa Maria del Buonconsiglio church in Naples and the Santuario di Monte Berico in Vicenza. Caravaggio’s altar-piece in the Fenaroli chapel in Sant’ Anna di Lombardi, Naples – painted in 1609 and destroyed in 1805 – is considered a model for all the works mentioned here.

HABERSATTER Thomas: Giordano Luca, Resurrection, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 14