Hot Pamono Circle of Sebastiano Conca, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1720, Oil on Canvas

Oval oil on canvas, (cm): 122 x 99, framed

This attractive painting, an oval-shaped oil on canvas, is a re-edition of a painting by Sebastiano Conca executed around 1710 for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (now housed at the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles), which was very successful in the early 18th century.
The work, which depicts the Adoration of the Shepherds, is striking not only for its large size but also for the strong scenographic effect of its evocative nocturnal setting. The overall effect is spectacular, with a pleasing light effect emanating from the Child, the fulcrum of the composition, and gradually fading as it reaches the more distant figures.

A number of paintings with the same subject or minor variations have been offered at international auctions with considerable estimates.
Its composition and construction are inspired by a Neapolitan painting by Guido Reni (conserved at the Certosa di San Martino), which Conca certainly studied during his early training in Naples in the workshop of Francesco Solimena.

He later established a workshop in Rome, where his pictorial style developed toward a late Baroque Neoclassical style.

Late Baroque characteristics of the painting include the illusionistic effect of perspective and, above all, the scenographic and theatrical representation of the subject matter. However, the masterful use of chiaroscuro and the highly expressive nature of the subjects are elements typical of Neoclassicism.
The reasons for his resounding success can be traced to the painter’s remarkable ability to act as an eclectic mediator of the various elements that had developed over the course of the 17th century: the grandiose and grandiose scenography, inherited from Giordano, learned during his years of apprenticeship and collaboration with Solimena, and the more measured and composed style of Maratta’s reforming classicism, to which he gained more direct access when he moved to Rome.

Conca’s skill was thus to balance both tradition and the cautious innovations of the moment, balancing and enhancing the diverse and multifaceted components of the late Baroque style.

STATE OF PRESERVATION:

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

The work is sold with a legally required photographic certificate of authenticity.