Sebastiano Conca (Napoli 1680 - 1764) cerchia di

Circle of Sebastiano Conca (Gaeta, 1680 - Naples, 1764) The Adoration of the Shepherds oil on oval canvas, (cm): 122 x 99, within frame Full details: www.antichitacastelbarco.it 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 at the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles), which was so successful in the early eighteenth century (see details). Link to the museum's 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, strikes, in addition to its large size, for the strong scenographic sense of its evocative nocturnal setting. The set is spectacular with a pleasant effect of lights that emanate from the Child, the compositional fulcrum, and gradually fade as they reach the more distant characters. Some paintings with the same subject or with small variations have been presented in international auctions with considerable estimates. For its composition and construction, it is inspired by a Neapolitan painting by Guido Reni (kept at the Certosa di S. Martino) certainly studied by Conca during his initial training in Naples in the workshop of Francesco Solimena. Subsequently, he founded a workshop in Rome, where his pictorial style developed in the direction of a neoclassical late Baroque. Late Baroque characteristics of the painting are the illusionistic effect of perspective and especially the scenographic and theatrical representation of the theme. However, the masterful use of chiaroscuro with the high expressiveness of the subjects are elements typical of Neoclassicism. The reasons for his resounding success can be recognized in the great ability of the painter to produce himself as an eclectic mediator of the various components matured during the seventeenth century: the scenographic, magniloquent and grandiose, of Giordanesque inheritance, learned in the years of apprenticeship and collaboration with Solimena, and that more measuredly composed 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 novelties of the moment, dosing and enhancing from time to time the different and multiple components of the late Baroque language. CONDITION: The canvas, in good condition, is accompanied by an ivory-colored lacquered frame. The work is sold with a photographic certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law.