Location

not on view

Description

Cavallino worked in Naples where he was not well known during his lifetime, but was alert to the work of contemporaries whose innovations he transformed with extraordinary delicacy and charm. The adoration of the shepherds is a traditional subject, but here Cavallino shows it in a new light. The focus is on Mary, indicating that she alone is aware of the angels who flutter above with ribbons proclaiming Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest). Joseph and the shepherds stolidly regard the child, but the sweetness of Mary's expression simultaneously reveals her love, pride, and humility.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed left on ox: "BC [monogram]"

Provenance

Marquis de Villette, Château de Villette, Oise;

Jean Baptiste Angiot, Paris (sale: Hotel Drouot, Paris, March 1-2, 1875, cat. no. 41, as Benedetto Castiglione);

private collection, Buenos Aires;

[Frederick Mont, New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968.

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 117 archive.org

Lurie, Ann Tzeutschler. "Bernardo Cavallino: Adoration of the Shepherds." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 4 (April 1969): 136-50. Reproduced: P. 138, fig. 4; p. 142, fig. 10; p. 143, fig. 12b, p. 148-149; Mentioned: P. 136-150 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 137 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced; p. 328; Mentioned: p. 329

Schloder, John E. Baroque Imagery. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 15-17

Exhibition history

Year in Review, CMA 1968: (CMA Bulletin: January 1969, no. 60, repr.)

When Angels bent near the Earth to touch their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story, CMA, Dec 1, 1981 - Jan 10, 1982:, no cat.

Painting in Naples, 1606 - 1705. From Caravaggio to Giordano, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Oct 2 - Dec 12, 1982:, cat. no. 35, repr. and pp. 145-147, 250; [Italian edition: cat. no. 36, repr., and pp. 166, 167, 271].

Bernardo Cavallino of Naples, 1616-1656, CMA, Nov 14 - Dec 30, 1984; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Jan 26 - Mar 24, 1985; Naples, Italy, Museo Pignatelli Cortes, Apr 24- June 26, 1985: cat. no. 79, repr. [Italian edition, cat. no. 45, repr.].

Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).

Painting in Naples from Caravaggio to Giordano. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (October 2-December 12, 1982).