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Dimensions: measurements note 226.5 by 285 cm.; 89 3/4 by 112 3/4 in.

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Provenance: Perhaps painted for Don Andrea d'Avalos, Prince of Montesarchio (according to Hübner & Woermann, citing De Dominici, under Literature);
In the possession of August der Starke, Elector of Saxony, by 1722.
In 1801hanging in the Inner Gallery of the Electoral Gallery;
By descent to the Kings of Saxony;
Königlich Sächsisches Galerie, later Gemäldegalerie Dresden, inv. no. 474, hanging in the central gallery to the right of the central pavillion of the Zwinger in 1901;
Sold by them in 1926 on the instructions of Direktor Hans Posse, with a second Giordano of Susanna and the Elders, through Kunsthandlung P. Rusch, Sidionstrasse 27, Dresden, priced at 16,000 Reichsmarks each;
Aquired from the above by Kommerzienrat Dr. Georg Hirsch, Villa Bauer, Gera, in 1926;
Subsequently at Rittergut Kospoda, Thuringia, until 1945; when confiscated by the Russian Army;
Rediscovered in an attic in the 1960s (divided in two pieces) and given to the Gemäldegalerie Dresden for storage;
Restituted to the great-grandson of Dr. Hirsch in 2007.

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Literature: 1722/8 Dresden inventory, p. 1, verso, no. A 32, as Luca Giordano, 'der spinnende Hercules', acquired via the agent 'Kindermann';
Perhaps B. de' Dominici, Vite de' Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti Napoletani, Naples 1742, vol. III, p. 415;
J.A. Riedel & C.F. Wenzel, Catalogue des tableaux de la Galerie Electorale à Dresde, Dresden 1765, p. 218, no. 264;
Verzeichniss der Gemälde welche in der Churfürstl. Gallerie zu Dresden..., Dresden 1801, p. 163, no. 264;
J. Hübner, Verzeichnis der Königlichen Gemälde-Galerie zu Dresden. Mit einer historischen Einleitung und Notizen über die Erwerbung der einzelnen Bilder, Dresden 1856, p. 157, no. 551;
Idem., last ed., Dresden 1880, no. 639;
K. Woermann, Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden, Dresden 1902, p. 171, no. 474.

ENGRAVED:
By Ch. Duflos.

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Notes: PROPERTY FROM A GERMAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Julius Hübner, and following him, Woermann believed that this was a picture listed by Bernardo de' Dominici as depicting Jole (Iole) - a misidentification he held to have been widespread - and that it was one of several works painted by Giordano for the renowned Neapolitan General Don Andrea D'Avalos, Prince of Montesarchio.υ1 In the absence of any more accurate description or measurements, we cannot be certain of this claim, but it is worth noting that Woermann cites the same provenance for one other Giordano then in the Gemäldegalerie, and he may have had secure grounds for so doing.υ2 The 1722/8 inventory merely notes that the picture was acquired via an agent called 'Kindermann'.

At various times the date has been read as 1690, but as Woermann points out, it can be securely read as 1670, a more plausible date given the painting's style.

This picture was deaccessioned by the Gemäldegalerie Dresden in 1926, and sold to Kommerzienrat Hirsch of Gera. An old photograph shows it as it was shortly before leaving the Gemäldegalerie (see Fig. 1). It was looted by Russian troops in 1945, and then discovered in an attic in the 1960s, cut in two (but in fact divided along the original seam between the two bolts of canvas of which it is comprised). The two parts were then placed in safe cleaning in the deposits of the Gemäldegalerie Dresden, and were again rediscovered in the clear-up after the Elbe floods. This painting was returned to the heirs of Dr. Hirsch in 2007, and has recently been the subject of a careful programme of conservation by International Fine Arts Conservation Studios of Bristol, during which the old wax lining was removed, and the two parts of the canvas reunited on a new lining using matching canvas. A full report on the work done is available on request.

We are grateful to Dr. Andreas Henning of the Gemäldegalerie Dresden for his help in cataloguing this picture.


1. See both, under Literature. O. Ferrari & G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples 1992, vol. I, p. 276 (under nos. A161 & A163) and p. 393, list the Andrea d'Avalos Hercules and Iole, together with a Cleopatra, a Tarquin and Lucretia and a Venus and Adonis, and suggest identifications with other pictures for two of them.
2. The other work is a Tarquin and Lucretia. Ferrari & Scavizzi (op. cit.) identify the D'Avalos picture as the one at Capodimonte, despite the lack of any provenance for it before 1945, and the Dresden picture (A162) as an almost contemporary version. Is this local patriotism?