HELP request: Need artist's name of Nativity Scene

[NedNickerson]

For all you art majors:

Click on the link below to view a Christmas card:

https://www.holidaycardwebsite.com/Detail.aspx?ItemNum=B3-A-4019-W73Y-KE&WebName=holidaycardstudio


Please look at the painting and tell me if you know who the artist is?

I know I've seen this painting before - I remember seeing a closeup detail of the man in the foreground (the one who's on his hands and knees) - but I can't recall who the artist is. I want to download a better copy of it without the fold in the center, but I don't know who the artist is.

 

[Swellegant]

It looks Venetian, of the Mannerist or Baroque periods, but I can't say who painted it. Tintoretto, maybe?

 

[hotdog1846]

It's a bit over the top, isn't it? Still, quite lovely, with how the light draws the eye toward Mary and Jesus. (And about 73 cherubs looking that direction, too.)

I was expecting a Thomas Kinkade, what with how popular those paintings are these days. Thank God it wasn't.

And ... sorry, I don't know who the artist is either.

 

[NedNickerson]

It looks Venetian, of the Mannerist or Baroque periods, but I can't say who painted it. Tintoretto, maybe?

It's obviously an "adoration" painting. I just now looked at two paintings of Tintoretto: Adoration of the Magi

http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumbnail/100871/1/Adoration-Of-The-Magi-C.-1582.jpg

And Adoration of the Shepherds

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/t/tintoret/3b/2upper/2/22adora.html

and it wasn't either of those...

I just don't know enough about art to know which period it might be from...

 

[NedNickerson]

It's a bit over the top, isn't it? Still, quite lovely, with how the light draws the eye toward Mary and Jesus. (And about 73 cherubs looking that direction, too.)

I was going to attempt to brush out the fold with Paintshop, but didn't have any luck. But while it was on my screen, blown up to maximum size, I started noticing all the details in it - like you said, all the cherubs - and the way the scene was lit, from the fire in the foreground, to the light emanating from heaven... There's all sorts of interesting details - there's a donkey's head peering out just to the right of the smoke from the fire, and a cow's head just to the left. A few cherub heads with wings, but no bodies... and it looks lilke there might be something written on that blue banner; I can't tell for sure...

I was hoping to find a better copy of it...

 

[justsimon]

I agree that it looks Baroque, but I don't know the artist.

 

[NedNickerson]

I found a similar painting by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) called "Adoration of the Shepherds," so I knew I was on the right track...

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Adoration-Shepherds.html

It took awhile, but I finally found it:

Adoration of the Shepherds (1689) - Charles Le Brun

http://www.chinaoilpainting.com/htmlimg/image-07829.htm

Charles Le Brun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Le_Brun