Series of the Four Parts of the World. America

These are accurate old copies of the set of paintings by Giordano that were sent to the Alcázar in Madrid around 1687-1689, before the arrival of the painter in Spain. Years later they were seen in the Royal Palace by both Ponz and Ceán Bermúdez and were also at one point in the Casita del Príncipe in El Escorial. The originals were sent on deposit by Patrimonio Nacional to the Spanish Embassy in Lisbon where one was destroyed and the others seriously damaged during a fire at the Embassy relating to the political events of 1974.

In order to personify the Four Continents Giordano used the female figures that conform to the traditional iconography of this subject.

America is symbolised by a semi-nude South American Indian woman with a headdress of feathers, a quiver and arrows. She is stabbing a lance into a prostrate nude man in the presence of similarly nude children and of women collecting shells from the sea. In the background, Spanish ships approach the coast while in the sky an allegorical figure of Spain, crowned and with a lion, watches the scene.

The four copies are extremely close to the originals and of notable quality. Their importance lies in the fact that they reflect the popularity of Giordano’s originals, of which various repetitions and copies are known and which also provided models for prints.