Lot 30: Gerolamo da Ponte, called Gerolamo Bassano

Gerolamo da Ponte, called Gerolamo Bassano
Bassano 1566 - 1621 Venice
the adoration of the shepherds
oil on canvas, unframed
94.5 by 133 cm., 37 1/4 by 52 1/4 in.
The five lefthand figures of this composition ultimately derive, albeit with slight differences, from a painting by Gerolamo's father, Jacopo, in the Galleria Nazionale, Rome (for which see E. Arslan, I Bassano, Milan, 1960, vol. ii, reproduced fig. 133). Gerolamo is
known to have painted variants of his father's paintings: compare his signed Adoration of the Shepherds, of upright format, which is based on Jacopo's painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The landscape in the present work is extremely close to that in Gerolamo's signed Flight of Abraham, formerly in the Aldobrandini collection until sold, Florence, Sotheby's, 18 October 1969, lot 119.