The Adoration of the Shepherds, Sebastiano Conca (Gaeta 1680 – Naples 1764) circle of

Sebastiano Conca (Gaeta, 1680 – Naples, 1764) circle of

The Adoration of the Shepherds

oil on oval canvas

(cm): 122 x 99, within frame

The pleasant painting proposed, executed in oil on oval canvas, is one of the re-editions of a painting by Sebastiano Conca executed around 1710 for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (now kept in the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles), which was so successful in the early years of the eighteenth century (see details).

Link to museum work: http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/671/sebastiano-conca-the-adoration-of-the-shepherds-ital…

The work, which depicts the Adoration of the Shepherds, is striking not only for its large size but also for the strong scenographic sense of its evocative nocturnal setting. The whole is spectacular with a pleasant effect of lights that emanate from the Child, the fulcrum of the composition, and gradually fade away as they reach the more distant characters.

Some paintings with the same subject or with small variations have been presented at international auctions with considerable estimates.

For composition and construction it is inspired by a Neapolitan painting by Guido Reni (preserved at the Certosa di S. Martino) certainly studied by Conca during his initial training which took place in Naples in the workshop of Francesco Solimena.

He later founded a workshop in Rome, where his pictorial style developed in the direction of a late neoclassical baroque.

Late Baroque characteristics of the painting are the illusionistic effect of the perspective and above all the scenographic and theatrical representation of the theme. However, the masterful use of chiaroscuro with the high expressiveness of the subjects are typical elements of neoclassicism.

The reasons for his resounding success can be recognized in the painter's great ability to act as an eclectic mediator of the various components developed during the 17th century: that grandiloquent and grandiose scenography, of Jordanian heritage, learned during his years of studentship and collaboration with Solimena, and the more measuredly composed one of the reforming classicism of Maratta, which he could access more directly when he moved to Rome.

Conca's ability was therefore to know how to measure himself both with tradition and with the cautious innovations of the moment, measuring and strengthening from time to time the different and multiple components of the late Baroque language.

STATE OF CONSERVATION: The canvas, in good condition, is accompanied by an ivory-colored lacquered frame.

The work is sold accompanied by a certificate of photographic authenticity in accordance with the law.