Lost Luca Giordano Painting Acquired by Uffizi Galleries

A long-lost painting by Luca Giordano, 'Gloria di Sant'Andrea Corsini', has been acquired by the Uffizi Galleries in Florence. The work was sold by Roman antiquarians Francesca Antonacci and Damiano Lapiccirella of Galleria Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art. It will be exhibited starting September 5. The late-17th-century oil on canvas served as the final preparatory bozzetto for Giordano's fresco on the dome of the Corsini Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Commissioned by Neri and Bartolomeo Corsini to celebrate their canonized relative Andrea Corsini (canonized 1629 by Pope Urban VIII), Giordano produced multiple models. Two rejected versions remain in the notified Corsini Collection; the approved model, considered the most significant, was moved due to family divisions in the late 19th century and escaped a 1940s notification. It remained with a branch of the Corsini family until its recent acquisition. Lapiccirella traced its provenance through Corsini family archives, discovering mediators in Naples who received payment for Giordano and even a reprimand from the Corsini urging the artist to focus on painting instead of chasing 'donzelle'. Antonacci noted the work's rarity, intact original canvas, and family seals, and that it had not been publicly seen since 1944.