(Genoa 1628–1703)
The Adoration of the Shepherds, 
oil on canvas, 168 x 131 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

Literature:
A. Orlando, Pittore eccellente di arabeschi, di fogliami, di fiori, di frutti. Stefano Camogli in Casa Piola, in: D. Sanguineti, Domenico Piola e i pittori della sua ‘casa’, Soncino 2004, p. 80, illustrated p. 95, fig. 26 (as Stefano Camogli ?);
A. Orlando, Dipinti genovesi dal Cinquecento al Settecento. Ritrovamenti dal collezionismo privato, Turin et. al. 2010, p. 157 (as Domenico Piola, late 1660s)

Domenico Piola was the leading artist in Genoa in the second half of the 17th century, providing ceiling frescoes for many Genoese churches and palaces as well as producing paintings for private patrons. He was also a prolific draughtsman, whose many designs for thesis pages and book illustrations promoted his work throughout Europe. Domenico studied with Giovanni Domenico Cappellino (1580–1651), for four years. These periods of training may have contributed to the monumentality of his compositions and draughtsmanship, but the early influence of the work of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione is apparent in the present painting. His working relationship with Valerio Castello in the late 1640s and early 1650s encouraged the development of a more Baroque style. Orlando has dated the present painting to the 1660s (see literature).