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Adoration of the Shepherds
About the Artwork
Cavallino worked in Naples where he was not well known during his lifetime, but was alert to the work of contemporaries whose innovations he transformed with extraordinary delicacy and charm. The adoration of the shepherds is a traditional subject, but here Cavallino shows it in a new light. The focus is on Mary, indicating that she alone is aware of the angels who flutter above with ribbons proclaiming Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest). Joseph and the shepherds stolidly regard the child, but the sweetness of Mary's expression simultaneously reveals her love, pride, and humility.
Inscriptions
Signed left on ox: "BC [monogram]"
Provenance
Marquis de Villette, Château de Villette, Oise 1875: Jean Baptiste Angiot, Paris (sale: Hotel Drouot, Paris, March 1-2, 1875, cat. no. 41, as Benedetto Castiglione) 1875–1968: Private Collection, Buenos Aires 1968: [Frederick Mont, New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968.
Exhibition history
Year in Review for 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969). When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982). Painting in Naples from Caravaggio to Giordano. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (October 2-December 12, 1982). Bernardo Cavallino of Naples, 1616-1656. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 14-December 30, 1984); Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (January 26-March 24, 1985); Museo Pignatelli Cortes, Napoli, Italy (April 24-June 26, 1985).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Bernardo Cavallino (Italian, 1616–1656)
- Date
- c. 1650
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 151 x 172 x 7 cm (59 7/16 x 67 11/16 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 126.8 x 148.3 cm (49 15/16 x 58 3/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1968.100
More by Bernardo Cavallino in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009255
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