The Adoration of the Shepherds

Cades trained with Domenico Corvi until the age of sixteen, when he won the first prize at the Accademia di San Luca. In the following years, he dedicated himself to making drawings after the Antique, which he sold to foreign travellers. This Adoration of the Shepherds shows in its fresh colours a definite neo-classical tendency, yet the composition and the vivid depiction of the figures display the profound influence of Roman Baroque painting on the artist.

We are grateful to Maria Teresa Caracciolo for pointing out the similarities between this picture and Cades' Adoration of the Shepherds in the Accademia di Carrara, Bergamo (letter 26 October 1998, see M.T. Caracciolo, Giuseppe Cades, 1750-1799, et la Rome de son temps, Paris, 1992, pp. 301-303, pl. 22).