Nativity With The Shepherds

Francesco de Mura (Naples, 1696 - 1782), attr.

Nativity with the shepherds

Oil on canvas, cm 104 x 154

Francesco De Mura, a Neapolitan painter, was one of the most important exponents of Italian Rococo. Born in 1696, after having attended the workshop of Domenico Viola, from 1708 he joined the studio of Francesco Solimena, where he remained until 1730. The influence of Solimena and his pictorial technique is evident in paintings dating from 1720-30, among which we can see the Christ dead on the cross with Saint John of 1713 painted in the church of San Girolamo alle Monache. Around 1723 he was commissioned to paint the three canvases for the chapel of S. Paride in the cathedral of Teano, before his major commissions. From 1728, De Mura began to show a more personal pictorial path, perhaps also influenced by the arcadian themes in vogue in Naples during this period.

His fame grows rapidly, and De Mura becomes one of the most sought-after painters in Naples. His works adorn churches, noble palaces and royal residences. In 1741 he was called to Turin by the king Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy to decorate the Royal Palace, where he met the painter Corrado Giaquinto and the architect Benedetto Alfieri. Back in Naples he was welcomed by a wide consensus to the point of being received at the Spanish court and kept contacts with several artists active especially in Rome, in particular with the French painter Pierre Subleyras. With his chromatic technique he influenced the realistic contents typical of the classicism-rococo the artistic eighteenth century Neapolitan. On his death he left all the works and sketches in his possession to the historic charity of the Pio Monte della Misericordia in Naples. In his flourishing workshop four protagonists of the last phase of the rococo season were trained in Naples: Pietro Bardellino, Fedele Fischetti, Giacinto Diano and Girolamo Starace-Franchis.Other students were: Oronzo Tiso, Nicola Peccheneda, Nicola Menzele (1725-1789), Romualdo Formosa, Vincenzo Cannizzaro, Vincenzo De Mita (1751-1828), Francesco Palumbo and Luigi Velpi.

The present Nativity with the adoration of the shepherds has been brought back to the artist’s hand by Federico Zeri (n. inventory 63646) in the catalogue of the Photo Library Zeri. Even the stylistic and compositional comparisons can confirm the attribution, as well testify the Adoration of the shepherds of the church of San Nicola to the Charity of Naples, Alessandro’s legacy of the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, the Adoration of the Shepherds

Church of the Nunziatella in Naples and the Christ and the Samaritan at the well of the Abbey of Montecassino where, in particular, is taken in different variations the figure of the woman with the typical hat 

The coloristic tone of the composition is also consistent with other works by the master such as La Madonna del Rosario by Real Monte Manso di Scala in Naples and La Madona con Bambino e San Giovannino by Collezione Privata.