(Bologna 1620–1661 Modena)
The Adoration of the Shepherds,
oil on canvas, tondo, diameter 114 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Count Giuseppe Carlo Ratta Garganelli, Bologna;
thence by descent;
Aristocratic collection, Italy, since at least 1950;
sale, Sotheby’s, London, 6 December 2018, lot 187 (as Flaminio Torre)
where acquired by the present owner

Documented:
Inventario e descritione de beni mobili, e semoventi ritrovati alla morte del Sig.re Giuseppe Carlo Ratta Garganelli. Parte de quali sono goduti per indiviso coll’III.mo Sig.re Lodovico Ratta, estimati prima Pitture p. indiviso col d. III.mo Sig.re Lod.co Ratta, prot. XX 1679, c. 78, fol. 5, no. 42 (as in the ‘Quarta Cam.a Pitture n. 8’ [‘in the Fourth Room Eight paintings’] ‘Un altro simile ove è la Beata Vergine il puttino che giace nella paglia S. Giuseppe e tre pastori dipinto in forma di note di mano di flaminio L 400’ [‘Another similar one showing the Blessed Madonna with the Christ Child lying in the straw, Saint Joseph and three shepherds painted in the form of notes by the hand of Flaminio L[ire] 400’])

Literature:
R. Morselli, Collezioni e quadrerie nella Bologna del Seicento. Inventari 1640–1707, ed. by Anna Cera Sones, Michigan 1998, p. 399 (as Flaminio Torre).

The present painting is considered one of Flaminio Torre’s most successful works, The Adoration of the Shepherds proposes an intimate interpretation of the new-testament scene. There is an intimacy created by the compositional arrangement with a close-up perspective that places the viewer on the same level as the central figure of the Madonna.

The composition is illuminated by a warm light revealing a palette of soft colours. The light’s source is the infant Christ himself, who is gently uncovered and presented to the shepherds who lean in from behind. Torre develops his figures with dynamic and strong brush strokes. He contrasts the delicate and light incarnate of the Madonna and Child with that of the two shepherds to the right. The plum, soft complexion of the central figures stands out particularly compared to that of the shepherd in the front. His face is marked by deep wrinkles in which the artist’s interest for the interplay of shadow and light becomes especially evident.

The present painting’s provenance can be traced back to the seven­teenth century, when it was recorded in the collection of Count Giuseppe Carlo Ratta Garganelli. As the inventory of the Bolognese nobleman’s collection records, he possessed not only this painting by Torre, but also other works of the artist.

Flaminio Torre or Torri studied with Giacomo Cavedone and was active in the workshop of Simone Cantarini. Later in his career, he went on to work at the court of Modena for Duke Alfonso IV where he became the superintendent of the Galleria Estense, before his death in 1661.