The Story
The Adoration of the Shepherds by Girolamo da Carpi (Girolamo Sellari). Gift of Maurizio and Dominique Canesso, in honor of Keith Christiansen, 2017
Created in 1540 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Girolamo da Carpi worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on wood, measuring 12 3/8 × 16 1/8 in. (31.4 × 41 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Girolamo da Carpi builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
