Apotheosis of the Medici
| Support Type: | Canvas |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | The National Gallery, London, England |
| Location History: | Marchese Francesco Riccardi, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence; acquired by the Earl of Shrewbury after 1822 and then in the Shrewsbury collection at Ingestre, Staffs; the Allegories of Fortitude, Justice, Prudence and Temperance and the Mythological Scene with the Rape of Proserpine were acquired by Sir Denis Mahon from the Matthiesen Gallery, London, in 1950. Matthiesen, who had acquired them from Lord Shrewsbury; the remaining five paintings in the series were acquired by Sir Denis Mahon in 1952 directly from Lord Shrewsbury. On loan since 1999; presented by the Trustees of Sir Denis Mahon’s Charitable Trust through the Art Fund, 2013. |
Staring at the artwork, the absolute first thing that hits me is how intensely illuminated and dynamic this whole celestial setup is. This is Luca Giordano’s Apotheosis of the Medici, painted sometime between 1682 and 1685, and it’s basically a massive visual flex for the Medici family. You've got Jupiter sitting right in the center, totally surrounded by this radiant, divine light and holding a thunderbolt like the ultimate symbol of authority. Right below him is Cosimo I de’ Medici, just casually hanging out with the four Cardinal Virtues—Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. Giordano completely designed this to elevate the Medicis to the literal level of the gods as models of human progress and virtue. He even threw in all these other mythological heavyweights like Apollo, Mars, Venus, and Saturn floating around the clouds. And the coolest detail? Those stars above the figures are the "Medici Stars," which is what Galileo actually named Jupiter’s moons to suck up to the family. The wild part is that this specific painting isn't even the final ceiling. It's just one of 12 oil modelli he knocked out to plan the actual massive fresco for the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence and get all the complex positioning approved. Giordano was a major Neapolitan Baroque painter who had this insane ability to mimic other masters like Bernini, Veronese, and Rubens. It earned him the nickname "Luca fa presto," because he worked incredibly fast. Critics back then used to dismiss his stuff as superficial because of his speed, but looking at how brilliantly he bridges that heavy Late Baroque drama with the lighter, emerging Rococo vibe here, they were completely wrong. To me, this artwork goes way beyond just a standard mythological scene. It represents absolute political propaganda disguised as high art. It’s a genius way of using literal astronomy and mythology to justify a single family's massive authority and status, while visually pulling off a masterclass in making a flat canvas feel like an infinite, swirling sky.