The Adoration of the Shepherds

Artist Matthias Stom [Stomer] Dutch, active in Italy, circa 1600–after 1652

Datecirca 1635–1637

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensionsoverall: 44 3/4 x 63 5/8 in. (113.7 x 161.6 cm)
frame: 59 1/4 x 78 x 4 1/4 in. (150.5 x 198.1 x 10.8 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.59

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated Naples, ca. 1635–1637. James Edward, 5th Earl of Malmesbury (1872–1950), Hurn Court, Christchurch, England; [Christie’s, London, November 3, 1950, no. 19, as Honthorst]; Duits. [Koetser Gallery, New York, as Honthorst]; sold to NCMA, 1952.
Published ReferencesW. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 69 (as The Nativity), illus. (b-w).

Imo Ruyle Foster, "Christmas Art in American Museums," International Journal of Religious Education (December 1961), 8, illus.

Benedict Nicolson, "Stomer Brought up to Date," The Burlington Magazine 19, no. 889 (April 1977), 238, 241.

Benedict Nicolson, The International Caravaggesque Movement (Oxford: Phaidon, 1979), 93, 244.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 103 (as The Nativity).

Dutch Art in the Age of Rembrandt (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1986), briefly discussed 6, illus. (b-w) 6, fig. 3.

"The Art of Banking," Tarheel Banker 67, no. 2 (August 1988), 25, illus.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1993), illus. (b-w) 96.

Joseph P. Covington, entry for Adoration of the Shepherds, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 139, illus. (color).

Dennis P. Weller, Sinners and Saints, Darkness & Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), cat. no. 38, illus. (color).

Jo Woestendiek, "What Child is This?", Winston-Salem, NC: Prime Times (November 15, 2000), illus. 10.

David Steel, "The Christmas Story in Art," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (November/December 2003), mentioned and illus. (color) 11.

Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 41, illus. (color) 195.

Joseph P. Covington, entry for The Adoration of the Shepherds, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 292, illus. (color) 293.
Exhibition HistoryMemphis, TN, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, "The Nativity," December 2, 1963-January 5, 1964.

New York, NY, IBM Gallery, "The Christmas Story in Art," December 13, 1965-January 8, 1966. cat. no. 31.

Winston-Salem, NC, Reynolda House, "Christmas Exhibition", November 30, 1966-January 3, 1967.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Dutch Art in the Age of Rembrandt," October 25, 1986-February 15, 1987, briefly discussed 6, illus. (b-w) 6, fig. 3.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Sinners and Saints, Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers," September 27- December 13, 1998; Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee Art Museum, January 29-April 18, 1999; Dayton, OH, The Dayton Art Institute, May 8-July 18, 1999, cat. no. 38, illus. (color).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Dutch Biblical Paintings/Rembrandt Etchings," October 13, 2002-January 5, 2003.

Williamsburg, VA, Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary, “In the Light of Caravaggio: Dutch and Flemish Paintings from Southeastern Museums,” February 10–May 13, 2018.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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