Valencian school; XVIII century.

Valencian School; XVIII century.
"Adoration of the shepherds".
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Measurements: 33 x 44 cm, 48 x 56 cm (frame).
This canvas represents a classic theme in the History of Art, that of the shepherds adoring the newborn baby Jesus in the portal of Bethlehem. It is a scene that lends itself to be interpreted as a large composition with numerous characters, worked in a costumbrista key, so it was very much to the taste of Baroque painters, who sought above all a natural and close art, which moved the mood of the faithful and made them feel close to what was represented on the canvas, to the sacred story. In this way, the divine elements are reduced to a minimum.
Formally, the scene is part of the academicism, and therefore follows classical rules, the first of which is the great technical quality. Thus, the drawing is rigorous and firm, of great anatomical perfection. The academicism is a direct inheritance of classicism, and hence the predilection for themes such as the one presented here, taken from mythology, although captured from a sensual and decorative point of view far from the solemnity of ancient classical art. Hence also the way of approaching the subject. However, we can appreciate an ideal of beauty that is not based on reality, although the painter's study of nature is undeniable, but rather an idealism based on reality due to his sum of experience, that is to say, an aesthetic sublimation that reflects a beauty that transcends reality. The Valencian school is different from the rest of contemporary Spanish artistic centers, thanks to the fact that during most of the 15th and 16th centuries there was an important settlement of Italian and Flemish painters. Thus, throughout the history of art, Valencia has been an important focus of Spanish art, along with other schools such as Andalusia and Madrid. In Valencia, the change from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century was not a break with the previous tradition, but a continuation of it. In 1768 the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos was created, and this institution will determine a change towards a classicism of baroque roots. Through it, young artists were trained by José Vergara, Manuel Monfort, José Camarón, Vicente Marzo, Vicente López and Mariano Salvador Maella. On the other hand, the economic recovery will result in a thriving industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, which will seek to distinguish itself socially through artistic patronage. At the same time, the Church was losing its monopoly as the only client of the artists. All this will determine a definitive change in taste, and also in the genres treated: religious painting will now coexist with bourgeois portraiture, still life, landscape, historical and mythological themes and genre painting.