Luca Signorelli, 'The Adoration of the Shepherds', about 1496
About the work
Overview
The focus of this large altarpiece is the tiny infant Christ – he lies on the ground, his head supported by a small cushion. His mother, the Virgin Mary, kneels behind him, surrounded by angels. Also gathered in worship are Mary’s husband Joseph and, to the left, four shepherds.
The shepherds appear only in the Gospel of Luke, which describes how they saw a vision of the angel of the Lord who told them the news of Christ’s birth. Signorelli has depicted this event on the hillside to the left of the picture.
Drawing was an important part of Signorelli’s artistic process and he planned his paintings with careful preparatory studies. A study for the group of shepherds (British Museum, London) is covered with a grid, probably to help the artist copy it to scale for the painting.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Adoration of the Shepherds
- Artist
- Luca Signorelli
- Artist dates
- about 1440/50 - 1523
- Date made
- about 1496
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 215 × 170.2 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1882
- Inventory number
- NG1133
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Probably from S. Francesco at Città di Castello. The S. Francesco altarpiece may have been ordered by a member of the Tiberti family, but by 1541 the altar where it hung seems to have belonged to the Biccheri; the chapel may have been the one formerly containing the relics of the B. Giacomo (which were later transferred to another chapel). The church of S. Francesco was remodelled between 1707 and 1727, and Signorelli’s picture was apparently removed to a position over the main door of the church and then to the refectory, where it apparently remained until the Napoleonic suppression of the convent. No. 1133 is first certainly recorded in 1826 at Città di Castello in the collection of Giacomo Mancini, who in 1832 himself said that it is the S. Francesco picture. There is secondhand verbal evidence that, on the suppression of S. Francesco, the picture from there was sold to a priest Manfucci, that Can. Giulio Mancini persuaded Manfucci that the sale had been illegitimate, and when the picture had been handed back acquired it for himself, after which it is assumed that the picture passed from Can. Giulio Mancini to Giacomo Mancini; there may in any case have been some peculiar circumstances attending the acquisition by Giacomo Mancini, since among his frequent references to the picture only one apparently gives a clue to the provenance. No. 1133 remained for some decades in the Mancini Collection at Città di Castello; acquired thence by Bardini, from whom purchased, Lewis Fund, 1882.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1627A. Conti, Fiori vaghi delle vite de' santi, e beati delle chiese e reliquie della Citta di Castello, Città di Castello 1627
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1726A. Certini, Origine delle chiese e monisteri di Città di Castello, Città di Castello 1726
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1775Città di Castello, Archivio Seminarile, MS 66: Andreocci, Memorie delle chiese conventi e monasteri… de Città di Castello, 1775
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1832G. Mancini, Istruzione storico-pittorica per visitare le chiese e palazzi di Città di Castello, Perugia 1832
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1850G. Milanesi, 'Commentario alla Vita di Luca Signorelli', in G. Vasari, Le Vite de più Eccellenti Architetti, Pittor e Scultore, Florence 1850, vol. 4, pp. 136-58
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1856London, National Gallery Archive, NG22/11: Charles Eastlake, Eastlake Notebook, 1856, vol. 2, fol. 13 v.
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1864J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy: From the Second to the Sixteenth Century, 3 vols, London 1864
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1872M. Guardabassi, Indice-guida dei monumenti pagani e cristiani riguardanti l'istoria e l'arte esistenti nella provincia dell'Umbria, Perugia 1872
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1878G. Vasari, Le vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori: Con nuove annotazioni e commenti di Gaetano Milanesi, ed. G. Milanesi, 8 vols, Florence 1878
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1879R. Vischer, Luca Signorelli und die italienische Renaissance: Eine kunsthistorische Monographie, Leipzig 1879
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1893Burlington Fine Arts Club, The Work of Luca Signorelli and His School, London 1893
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1897G. Magherini-Graziani, L'arte a città di Castello, Città di Castello 1897
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1899M. Cruttwell, Luca Signorelli, London 1899
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1901A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
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1901H.F. Cook, 'Notizie d'Inghilterra', L'arte, IV, 1901
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1903J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, Umbria, Florence and Siena, from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, ed. R.L. Douglas, 2nd edn, 6 vols, London 1903
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1903G. Mancini, Vita di Luca Signorelli, Florence 1903
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1909M.W. Brockwell, The National Gallery: Lewis Bequest, London 1909
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1910G. Lafenestre, 'Review: M. W. Brockwell: The National Gallery, Lewis Bequest, London, 1909', L'arte, 1910
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1923R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
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1925A. Fanfani, 'La Nativita di N. S. di Luca Signorelli', Polimnia, II, 1925
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1927L. Düssler, Signorelli, Klassiker der Kunst 34, Berlin 1927
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1930W. Bode, Mein Leben, Berlin 1930
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1932B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places, Oxford 1932
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1950A.E. Popham and P. Pouncey, Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, London 1950
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1953M. Salmi, Luca Signorelli, Novara 1953
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1956M. Salmi, Luca Signorelli, Novara 1956
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1960G. Morelli, Italienische Malerie der Renaissance: Im Briefwechsel von Giovanni Morelli und Jean Paul Richter, 1876-1891, ed. I.A. Richter, Baden Baden 1960
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1961C. Rosini, Città di Castello: Guida estetica, Città di Castello 1961
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1964A. Ascani, Trilogia francescana, Città di Castello 1964
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1964P. Scarpellini, Luca Signorelli, Milan 1964
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1966M. Lenzini Moriondo, Signorelli, Florence 1966
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1966G. Vasari, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, eds R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi, 6 vols, Florence 1966
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1968B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, revised edn, 3 vols, London 1968
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1980E. Carli, Le storie di San Benedetto a Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Milan 1980
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1983P. Scarpellini and F.F. Mancini (eds), Pittura in Umbria tra il 1480 e il 1540: Premesse e sviluppi nei tempi di Perugino e Raffaello, Milan 1983
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1983A. Marabottini, Raffaello giovane e Città di Castello (exh. cat. Pinacoteca Comunale, 1983), Città di Castello 1983
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1985C.T. Dowd, 'The Travel Diary of Otto Mündler', The Walpole Society, LI, 1985
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1990A. Paolucci, Luca Signorelli, Florence 1990
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1995C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 1995
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1995C. Van Cleave, Luca Signorelli as a Draughtsman, Phd Thesis, Oxford University 1995
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1996T. Henry, The Career of Luca Signorelli in the 1490s, Phd Thesis, Courtauld Institute of Art 1996
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1998T. Henry, Signorelli in British Collections (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 11 November 1998 - 31 January 1999), London 1998
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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