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Giuseppe Assereto, Alias Maestro Di San Giacomo Alla Marina (genoa, C. 1626 - C. 1656/57)
Giuseppe Assereto, alias Maestro di San Giacomo alla Marina (Genoa, c. 1626 - c. 1656/57)
Adoration of the Shepherds
Oil on canvas, 60.5 x 74.5 cm
Within a 19th-century frame
Authority confirmed by Camillo Manzitti
The painting was traced back to Giuseppe Assereto's catalogue by Camillo Manzitti, Gioacchino's son and pupil, also known as the Master of the Oratory of San Giacomo alla Marina, which houses his most famous painting, The Preaching of Saint James (c. 1650). The work's style reveals a striking influence from his father's mature work, when, influenced by Mathias Stom (Amersfoort, c. 1600 - Sicily, after 1650), he expressed a darker, Southern sensibility. In the present case, however, one senses a more accentuated naturalism and interesting similarities with the work of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. The canvas under examination finds specific comparisons with other compositions by the master, in particular with the one in a private Emilian collection made known by Tiziana Zennaro (see T. Zennaro, Gioacchino Assereto (1600-1650) e i pittori della sua scuola, Soncino 2011, vol. II, p. 608, no. E30), but it is also worth mentioning here the canvases of the same subject already published as autographs by Assereto by Wazbinski in 1981 and Caterina Marcenaro in the 1969 exhibition catalogue, respectively held at the Zeromski Muzeum in Poland and in a private collection in Genoa, attributions shared by Castelnovi and Pesenti. From the point of view of the layers, the painting under examination reveals pictorial spretatitura of higher quality and substantially different from the Emilian version, finding better points of comparison with the Genoese version, particularly if we analyze the Baby Jesus and the faces of the figures. These clues consequently lead to dating the work around 1650 and likely executed when Giuseppe was working in his father's workshop and was experimenting with the fascinating nocturnal settings with him.
Adoration of the Shepherds
Oil on canvas, 60.5 x 74.5 cm
Within a 19th-century frame
Authority confirmed by Camillo Manzitti
The painting was traced back to Giuseppe Assereto's catalogue by Camillo Manzitti, Gioacchino's son and pupil, also known as the Master of the Oratory of San Giacomo alla Marina, which houses his most famous painting, The Preaching of Saint James (c. 1650). The work's style reveals a striking influence from his father's mature work, when, influenced by Mathias Stom (Amersfoort, c. 1600 - Sicily, after 1650), he expressed a darker, Southern sensibility. In the present case, however, one senses a more accentuated naturalism and interesting similarities with the work of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. The canvas under examination finds specific comparisons with other compositions by the master, in particular with the one in a private Emilian collection made known by Tiziana Zennaro (see T. Zennaro, Gioacchino Assereto (1600-1650) e i pittori della sua scuola, Soncino 2011, vol. II, p. 608, no. E30), but it is also worth mentioning here the canvases of the same subject already published as autographs by Assereto by Wazbinski in 1981 and Caterina Marcenaro in the 1969 exhibition catalogue, respectively held at the Zeromski Muzeum in Poland and in a private collection in Genoa, attributions shared by Castelnovi and Pesenti. From the point of view of the layers, the painting under examination reveals pictorial spretatitura of higher quality and substantially different from the Emilian version, finding better points of comparison with the Genoese version, particularly if we analyze the Baby Jesus and the faces of the figures. These clues consequently lead to dating the work around 1650 and likely executed when Giuseppe was working in his father's workshop and was experimenting with the fascinating nocturnal settings with him.
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