Adoration of the Shepherds – 17th-century Veronese school

Oil on gypsum alabaster – Verona, 17th century, circle of Alessandro Turchi (1578–1649)
Our rare painting on alabaster depicts one of the most frequently represented subjects in Western art: the Adoration of the Shepherds, an episode from the Nativity that serves as its prologue. The Gospel according to Luke (2:7) describes it thus: “Mary gave birth to a son and laid him in a manger because there was no room for her in the inn”...
The gentle composition draws the viewer into the intimacy of a scene where the people of the fields and the angels come to pay homage to the Son of God on earth. The annunciation was made to them by the angel above them, who holds up a phylactery on which we can read “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” the original Christian liturgical hymn to the glory of God.
The painter has judiciously left blank areas (unpainted areas) to represent the ruined wall separating the stable from the countryside in the background. The visible stone veins allow light to pass through the support, giving the whole a dreamlike quality.
Painting on precious materials (paisine, agate, alabaster, jasper, lapis lazuli, and amethyst) spread throughout Italy over a period of about a century. In 1530, Sebastiano del Piombo developed a technique for painting on slate. This innovation seemed to respond to artists' concerns about the longevity of their works. Four major schools—Florence, Venice, Rome, and above all Verona—seemed to compete in boldness and imagination by painting on “pictorial” stones. The painters used the veins, contrasts, and transparencies to create their scenes. From the 1580s onwards, stone painting responded to the new attraction for unusual objects and became part of cabinets of curiosities. The most illustrious practitioners of the discipline were Alessandro Turchi, Antonio Tempesta, Jacopo Bassano, Pasquale Ottino, and, in France, Jacques Stella.

Our alabaster plaque is set in a frame from the Marche region, carved from wood and decorated with painted imitation jasper and gilding, at the foot of which is a label reading “Alessandro Turchi 1582–1648.”
Dimensions: 30.5 x 25.5 cm - 42 x 37 cm with frame
Like the vast majority of paintings on stone, the plaque has been broken, the pieces reassembled and glued back together.

Alessandro Turchi, known as l'Orbetto (Verona 1578 – Rome 22.01.1649) was the son of a modest one-eyed clog maker (“orbo” in Italian), hence the nickname “l'Orbetto” given to Alessandro. He learned his craft under the brushes of the Mannerist painter Felice Brusasorci. Around 1615, he settled in Rome, where his talent was recognized. He participated in the decoration of the Quirinal Palace, where he painted “The Gathering of Manna” and “The Dead Christ with Mary Magdalene and Angels.” In 1618, he was registered at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, and in 1634, he became its first rector.
Along with Pasquale Ottino, Alessandro Turchi was the leader of the Verona school of stone painting. Among the many masterpieces left by Orbetto are “The Flight into Egypt” at Capodimonte in Naples, “The Death of Cleopatra and Mark Antony” at the Louvre, “Scenes from the Life of Hercules” at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, and “Venus and Adonis” at the Corsini Gallery in Florence.