(Antwerp active circa 1500–1520)
The Adoration of the Shepherds,
with inv. no. ‘44’ on a label lower left,
oil on panel, 106.5 x 81.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Aristocratic collection, Southern Italy, until circa 1980;
where acquired by the grandfather of the present owner

We are grateful to Peter van den Brink for confirming the attribution to the Master of the von Groote Adoration on the basis of photographs.

The Master of the von Groote Adoration was first identified in 1915 by Friedländer from a common hand found in several works of refined Antwerp Mannerism, dating to between 1500 and 1520. The Master of the von Groote Adoration was part of an innovative circle of Northern European artists who shared certain common compositional characteristics, such as the grotesque architectural embellishments on the central column of the present painting. Indeed, the haggard features of the kneeling shepherd on the right, bear some resemblance to those found on the sheet of head studies by Jan de Beer (circa 1475-1528) conserved in the British Museum (inv. no. 1886,0706.7). However, van den Brink identifies the present shepherd’s ‘grinning’ facial type and the overall handling of the painted surface of the work as a prime example of the style of the Master of the von Groote Adoration.

The present panel has been subjected to infrared reflectography. Van den Brink compares the revealed underdrawings with those found in both the name-piece of the master circa 1515–19, the Adoration now conserved in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt (inv. no. 2253) along with the artist’s other two masterpieces, the Crucifixon in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp (inv. no. 325) and the Lamentation, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig (inv. no. 1552), describing them as ‘absolutely by the same hand’.