Early Life, Family and Training Naples, 1634. Luca Giordano enters a world of pigment and oil as the son of the painter Antonio Giordano. The household is one of craft. By around 1650, the boy moves from his father's immediate circle into the studio of Jusepe de Ribera. This apprenticeship defines his early years. The influence of Ribera is heavy, visible in the dramatic chiaroscuro and the realistic, often stark, portrayal of figures that characterize his first efforts. He absorbs the master's dark manner, a style rooted in the intense shadows of the Neapolitan tradition. Speed becomes his…