RENI, GUIDO
THE ADORATION OF SHEPHERDS
This picture in the Pushkin Museum is from a range of works which had become extremely famous as early as the 17th century. Cesare Malvasia referred to it as "la famosa Presepe che si trova in Francia in forma ottagonale" (the famous Adoration octagonal in shape which is in France). Several copies of the Moscow work exist (at least seven).
Provenance: it was held in the gallery of M. De la Vriller in Paris; then in the collection of Lord Walpole; acquired from Lord Walpole's collection for the Hermitage in 1779; in the Pushkin Museum since 1928.
