(Bologna active 1504–1558)
The Nativity with a shepherd and Salome,
oil on panel, 23 x 46.5 cm, framed

Provenance (according to labels on the reverse):
Alexander Penrose Forbes (1817–1875), Bishop of Brechin, Dundee;
Collection of Cornelia Kouwenhoven van Neuren (1893–1981), Voorburg, The Netherlands;
Collection of Dr. Martin de Wild (1899–1969), The Netherlands, possibly 1960s

Exhibited (according to a label on the reverse):
Dundee, Free Library and Museum Buildings, Fine Art Exhibition, November 1873, p. 16, cat. no. 188 (as Luca Signorelli)

We are grateful to Enrico Ghetti for suggesting the attribution and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

The present Nativity or Adoration of the Shepherds includes an elder woman depicted on the right of the composition who could be identified as Saint Anne, however, it has been suggested, that this figure is Salome, a figure frequently represented in Orthodox icons of the Nativity, following the apocryphal Gospel of James (XIX, 3; XX, 1).

The present panel displays elements of Emilian Cinquecento painting, combining stylistic characteristics typical for Bologna, Parma and Ferrara and has been given to Biagio Pupini. The artist trained in the workshop of Francesco Francia (1460–1517) and Amico Aspertini (1474/1475–1552) but was also influenced by Girolamo da Carpi (1501–1556) and Parmigianino (1503–1540).

The slender and elegant figures with pointed facial features appear in other works by the painter, including the Madonna with Child, Saint Jerome and Four Saints conserved in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and the Marriage of the Madonna in Palazzo Pitti, Florence (see R. Serra, Biagio Pupini non solo disegni, in: Intrecci d’arte, 10, 2021, pp. 33–49).

Little is known about Biagio Pupini’s upbringing and education. However, in his Viridario from 1513, Giovanni Filoteo Achillini praised the musical and artistic talents of a certain ‘Biasio’, who most likely is to be identified with Biagio Pupini. The artist’s first documented commission is a now lost fresco cycle in San Pietro in Vincoli, Faenza 1511, executed together with Bartolomeo Ramenghi, il Bagnacavallo (1484–1542).