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Adoration of the Shepherds

Adoration of the Shepherds

Francesco Solimena

A prolific artist who created many frescoes, altarpieces, mythological paintings, and portraits, Francesco Solimena, sometimes called l’Abate Ciccio, dominated Neapolitan painting in the first half of the eighteenth century and won admiration for his art throughout Europe. In works from the earlier part of his career, such as this painting, Solimena developed a highly personal and dramatic handling of light and shade following the examples of Mattia Preti and Luca Giordano, the leading Neapolitan painters of the period. The animal still life in the center foreground of the picture reflects the keen interest in naturalism characteristic of Baroque painting. The artist draws us into the picture through this realistically painted detail, as well as by the use of a dramatic viewpoint from below. Like the Chazen's altarpiece by Vasari, this painting would have hung at a greater height above an altar in a church. The subject of the Adoration of the Shepherds does not appear in the scriptural accounts of the Nativity. Rather, it comes from a thirteenth century Franciscan source that emphasized the revelation of Christ’s birth to the humble shepherds—poverty and humility being the principal aims of the order founded by St. Francis of Assisi. The belief in the Holy Sacrament as the Body of Christ was one of the fundamental dogmas of the Roman Church that was vigorously affirmed in the face of Protestant challenges.
Artist
Francesco Solimena
(Italian, 1657 - 1747)
Title
Adoration of the Shepherds
Date
ca. 1686
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
54 3/4 x 71 1/2 in. Overall
Credit
Thomas E. Brittingham Fund purchase
Accession No.
70.8
Classification
Paintings
Geography
Italy

Related

<span>Private collection of an English dealer and marchand amateur; 30 November 1966, purchased in London, England at Sotheby &amp; Co. auction, "Important Old Master Paintings," (lot 29, "Various Properties") by P. &amp; D. Colnaghi &amp; Co., Ltd. of London, England; 1970, sold by P. &amp; D. Colnaghi &amp; Co to the Elvehjem Art Center [now known as the Chazen Museum of Art]. [Last researched by Chazen staff 4 March 2022] </span>

  • Rogers, Millard F., Jr. "Paintings at the Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin." The Magazine Antiques. Vol. CVIII, No. 6, December (1975). p. 1154, fig. 9
  • Watrous, James. "A Century of Capricious Collecting 1877-1970: From the Gallery in Science Hall to the Elvehjem Museum of Art," Madison, WI: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1987. p. 28, fig. 30
  • Committee on Institutional Cooperation. "Paintings from Midwestern University Collections: Seventeenth-Twentieth Centuries." Evanston, Ill.: Committee on Institutional Cooperation, 1973. pp. 38-39, cat. no. 10
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 48
  • Art Quarterly, XXXIV. "Recent Accessions of American & Canadian Museums." Art Quarterly, XXXIV, no. 1 (1971). p. 131, no. 126
  • Yale University Art Gallery. "A Taste for Angels: Neapolitan Painting in North America 1650-1750." exh. cat. New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1987. pp. 171-172, no. 68
  • Colnaghi & Co., P. & D. "Paintings by Old Masters." London: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., 1967. pl. VII; no. 8
  • Blumenthal, Arthur. "In The Light of Naples: The Art of Francesco De Mura." Winter Park, FL: Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, 2016. p. 193
  • Spinosa, Nicola. "Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) e le Arti a Napoli." Roma: Ugo Bozzi Editore, 2018. p. 230, no. 67

  • In the Light of Naples: The Art of Francesco de Mura: Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, 9/17/2016–11/26/2017
  • Paintings from Midwestern University Collections: 17th-20th Centuries: Committee on Institutional Cooperation and Member Universities, 10/3/1973–4/27/1975
  • Paintings by Old Masters: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., 5/16/1967–6/2/1967

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