Adoration of the Shepherds

Andrea Vaccaro was considered the best painter in Naples during his lifetime and was the main representative of the local school of painting until superseded in this position by the younger artist Luca Giordano. Vaccaro enjoyed the patronage of the Spanish Viceroy. His work in early years reveals the heavy influence of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro as well as the realism of Jusepe de Riberas. Later, however, it absorbs elements of the classicist Bolognese style from Guido Reni and Domenichino.