Stefano Magnasco (c. 1635-c. 1670/3)

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Details

Stefano Magnasco (c. 1635-c. 1670/3)
The Adoration of the Shepherds
oil on canvas
68 x 65 in. (174 x 165.3 cm.)

Provenance

Anon. Sale [The Property of A Religious Order], Christie's, New York, 31 May 1990, lot 81, as 'Antonio Bellucci' (sold $60,500).

Literature

B. Suida Manning, 'A Panorama of Italian Painting', Apollo, CXI, March 1980, pp. 186-7, pl.XI.
L.Salerno, La Natura Morta Italiana, Rome, 1984, pp. 142-3, fig. 35.5.
B. Suida Manning, 'Bernardo Strozzi as a Painter of still life', Apollo, CXXI, April 1985, pp. 250-1, illustrated.
A. Griseri and A. Cottino, 'La Natura Morta Liguria nel seicento', in La natura morta in Italia, ed. F.Zeri, Milan, 1989, 1, pp. 113-4, and 119, pl. 113 (detail).
L. Mortari, Bernardo Strozzi, Rome, 1995, pp. 23, pl. X in colour, 24, and 177, no.432.
D. Sanguineti in the exhibition catalogue, Bernardo Strozzi, Genoa, 1995, pp.230, illustrated and 232, under no.67.

Sale room notice

The estimate should be 30,000-40,000.

Lot Essay

Stefano Magnasco, father of the more familiar Alessandro, was a pupil of Valerio Castello, whose influence can be detected in this canvas: he was also aware of the example of Castiglione, and of pictures of Van Dyck's Genoese years. A sojourn in Rome in the late 1650s widened Magnasco's artistic horizons. There are few dated works by the artist, but this canvas would appear to be of his later period at Genoa, to which he seems to have returned in 1660.

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