Adoration of the Shepherds is a painting by the Italian late Baroque artist Luca Giordano, executed c. 1688, and commissioned for the queen's apartments in the Palacio Real in Madrid, or perhaps at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, near Madrid. It was produced at the same time as the same artist's Marriage of the Virgin , as part of a set of paintings of the Life of the Virgin intended for the queen's bedroom. Both works are now in the Louvre in Paris. [1]
The painting shows the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus in her arms, while Joseph is standing next to her, on the right side of the picture. Several cherubs, admiring the Holy Family illuminated by a strong beam of light, are placed on the left side in an elevated position in respect to it. A group of shepherds always approaches from the left bringing gifts as a sign of adoration for the Baby Jesus. The standing shepherd placed in the foreground of the others gives the composition a sense of dynamism, while the shepherd kneeling with his arms crossed on the chest creates an atmosphere of contemplation.
It was in the Spanish royal collection until Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844) was installed as King of Spain. He gave the pair to a French general, since when they have been in France. [2]
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, usually known as just Correggio, was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the sixteenth century. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Correggio prefigured the Baroque art of the seventeenth century and the Rococo art of the eighteenth century. He is considered a master of chiaroscuro.
The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings or Visitation of the Wise Men is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. It is related in the Bible by Matthew 2:11: "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path".
Simon Vouet was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and mythological paintings, portraits, frescoes, tapestries, and massive decorative schemes for the king and for wealthy patrons, including Richelieu. During this time, "Vouet was indisputably the leading artist in Paris," and was immensely influential in introducing the Italian Baroque style of painting to France. He was also according to Pierre Rosenberg, "without doubt one of the outstanding seventeenth-century draughtsmen, equal to Annibale Carracci and Lanfranco."
Corrado Giaquinto was an Italian Rococo painter.
Claudio Coello was a Spanish Baroque painter. Coello is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century.
The Adoration of the Magi or The Epiphany is a triptych oil painting on wood panel by the Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch, executed around 1485–1500. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain.
The Nativity of Jesus has been a major subject of Christian art since the 4th century.
The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the number of scenes shown varies greatly with the space available. Works may be in any medium: frescoed church walls and series of old master prints have many of the fullest cycles, but panel painting, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, stone sculptures and ivory carvings have many examples.
Pieter van Mol or Peter van Mol was a Flemish painter known for his history paintings of religious subject matter, and to a lesser extent for his allegorical compositions, genre scenes and portraits. His style was profoundly influenced by Rubens, Abraham Janssens and Artus Wolffort. He was court painter to the King and Queen of France.
The Entombment is a 1559 oil-on-canvas painting by the Venetian painter Titian, commissioned by Philip II of Spain. It depicts the burial of Jesus in a stone sarcophagus, which is decorated with depictions of Cain and Abel and the binding of Isaac. The painting measures 137 cm × 175 cm and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Titian made several other paintings depicting the same subject, including a similar version of 1572 given as a gift to Antonio Pérez and now also in the Prado, and an earlier version of c.1520 made for the Duke of Mantua and now in the Louvre.
The Adoration of the Shepherds by the Le Nain Brothers is in the National Gallery in London. The painting dates from about 1640, and is relatively unusual as a religious subject or history painting in their oeuvre; they are best known for genre painting, especially groups of peasants. As with most of the works of Antoine, Louis and Mathieu (1607–1677) Le Nain, it is not possible to establish which brother, or combination of brothers, painted it. This painting is unsigned, but when they signed their works, from 1641 to 1648, it was simply as Lenain.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Arras is located in the old Abbey of St. Vaast in Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.
The Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille is one of the main museums in the city of Marseille, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It occupies a wing of the Palais Longchamp, and displays a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the 16th to 19th centuries.
Marriage of the Virgin is an oil-on-canvas painting executed c. 1688 by the Italian artist Luca Giordano. It was probably part of a series of scenes from the Life of the Virgin created by the artist for the Palacio Real, a series which also included Adoration of the Shepherds. Both this work and Adoration are now in the Louvre in Paris.
The Adoration of the Shepherds is a 1644 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Georges de La Tour. It is now in the Louvre Museum, in Paris, which purchased it in 1926.
Adoration of the Shepherds is a c. 1480 tempera and gold on panel painting by Carlo Crivelli. It is now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Strasbourg, for which it was acquired in Florence by Wilhelm von Bode. Its inventory number is 171. Art historians are uncertain about the dating of the painting, and propositions have ranged from 1470 to 1491.
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