Hans von Aachen

(Colonia, 1552 - Praga, 1615)

Adoration of the shepherds, post 1591. Oil on copper, 22x17 cm. Within the nineteenth century frame. The work is exemplified on the version made by von Aachen in 1591 and kept at the Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen in Munich (copper, 24x19 cm). The Sadeler two years later, in 1593, translated it into an engraving allowing numerous followers of the artist to replicate this composition. However, the Sadeler did not report the cherubim arranged on the four corners of the painting and it is for this reason that the numerous copies transited on the antiquarian market do not have such details. Therefore, our version, compositively identical to that of Monaco, although rendered with some pictorial variations, also given its high executive quality, is proposed as a possible autograph replica of von Aachen. The painter, also active in Venice, Rome and Florence, is to be counted among the leading exponents, together with Heintz and Spranger, of European-style painting active at the court of Prague of Emperor Rudolf II.

cm 22x17