Object
of the Month – April 2020
April’s Object of the
Month has been chosen by Jenny Oxley, Collections Officer (Human History). It is a pen and ink drawing with additions in
chalk by Italian artist Gaspare Diziani (b.1689 d.1767) called the Adoration of the Shepherds
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Adoration of the Shepherds, pen & ink with chalk
drawing by Gaspare Diziani
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This item recently came back off loan from the
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge where it has been on loan to them since
1979. In its time at the Fitzwilliam, it
also went out on further loan to the Fondazione Cini in Venice for a special
display of Venetian drawings. Before it
came to Saffron Walden Museum, the drawing had originally been housed at Ashdon
Hall.
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Adoration of the Shepherds,
oil on canvas painting by Gaspare
Diziani c. 1755
Diziani’s original oil on canvas painting - a version of the same scene
dates to around 1755 and is housed in a private collection. Diziani was an Italian painter and
draughtsman. His earliest training was
in Belluno in Northern Italy with Antonio Lazzarini (1672-1732). Having moved
to Venice, he joined the workshop of Gregorio Lazzarini and later that of
Sebastiano Ricci, who was in Venice until 1715 and
exerted the strongest influence on his development;
presumably Diziani was familiar with Ricci's many paintings in Belluno before
becoming his pupil.
Between 1710 and 1720 he painted a group of eight
pictures that included the Mary Magdalene for Santo. Stefano, Belluno, and the
Entry into Jerusalem for Santo. Teodoro, Venice. His speed of production and technical
assurance are demonstrated especially in his preparatory oil sketches, with
colour applied in rapid and spirited pen-like strokes. He also worked as a scenery painter in a
number of Venetian theatres. Art
commissions took him to Munich (1717) and later to Dresden, where he was highly
acclaimed. In 1719 he was active in Rome
but by 1720 he was already back in Venice where he entered the "Fraglia
dei Pittori Veneziani", remaining in the Veneto for the rest of his
life.
The works of Gaspare Diziani can be found in the Church
of San Rocco in Belluno, dated 1727, several paintings in the Sacristy of the
Church of Santo Stefano in Venice, dated 1733, the frescoes in Palazzo Spineda
in Treviso, dated 1748, and the frescoes in the Church of San Bartolomeo in
Bergamo.
The Adoration of
the Shepherds (based on the account in Luke 2) is a scene in which the
shepherds witness the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of the Magi. The Museum holds an oil-on-canvas painting of
the Adoration of the Magi scene as
well, which is by the artist Ramsey Richard Reinagle (1749-1833) – (a copy
after Peter Paul Rubens c.1616). It is currently
on renewable loan to Chrishall Parish Council, where it is on display in the Holy
Trinity Church, Chrishall. It originally
came to the Museum around 1843, having been bought for Francis Gibson at an
auction at the Leicester Square Sale Rooms.
Adoration of the Magi by the artist Ramsey Richard Reinagle
(1749-1833) – a copy after Peter Paul Rubens c.1616
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