AGOSTINO CARRACCI (BOLOGNA
1557-PARMA 1602)
The Adoration of the Shepherds
c.1592-4RCIN 902134
This is a vigorous sketch for Agostino Carracci’s painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds in the church of Santa Maria della Pioggia, Bologna, badly damaged by bombing in 1944. All the elements of the final composition are present, including a pair of figures in the distant landscape. A second, much smaller sketch tucked into the side of the manger at lower left is hard to read, though it seems to include more bystanders.
No. 112