Lot 1512 Dα

This painting by Ippolito Scarsella reveals the strong interest of this artist from Ferrara in the Venetian tradition, which he almost certainly developed as a result of his four-year stay in the workshop of Veronese starting in around 1570. However, the vivid, luminous colours and the painterly treatment of the motifs also follow the classical Venetian school, which culminated in the works of Titian, Tintoretto, Schiavone and the Bassanos. This work, however, is particularly reminiscent of those of Jacopo and Francesco Bassano in its nocturnal setting. Depicting the Biblical story at night lends this expansive composition a mysterious atmosphere that seems to anticipate the Passion of Christ. The surrounding darkness is illuminated solely by the divine radiance of the Child and the heavenly light of the angels making music. The use of this sparse lighting allows the painter to create a mood of intimacy and restrained drama.
This depiction of the "Adoration of the Shepherds" may be identical to a painting listed in the inventory of the Palazzo della Vigna, presso Porta San Pancrazio in Rome. The description "un quadro che rappresenta la Nativitá di Nostro Sigre con Gloria et Angeli, die mano di Scarzellino di Ferrara di palmi 4, e 3" corresponds to the composition of this work, although the ancient units of measurement cannot be accurately converted (M. A. Novelli: Scarsellino, 2008, nos. 85, 141 and 190).