Marten de Vos Circle

Circle of MARTEN DE VOS (Antwerp, Belgium, 1532 - 1603); c. 1600.
"The Adoration of the Shepherds".
Oil on copper.
Presents report of Rafael Romero Asenjo.
Measurements: 44 x 31 cm; 78 x 64 cm (frame).

This Adoration of the Shepherds is represented before a classical ruins sublimated with a palette of blues that reveal the scenographic taste of the hand of Marten de Vos. The characters are crowded in the foreground around the Child Jesus, who occupies a central place. The gestural emphasis and the costumes individualize each figure, giving them all personality. De Vos' quality can be appreciated in their characterizations and elegance of demeanor, as well as in the exquisite treatment of the fabrics. Also typical of his workshop were the rich and varied shades of grays and blues of the landscape in contrast with the warm shades of the costumes. Stylistically, the uniqueness of the painting is given by the confluence of inspirations: classicism does not completely erase the mannerist influence, which remains latent in the representation of human models. Thus, a new style is created, freely inspired by what they considered the best of the classical past, but also impregnated with contemporary influences.

In this painting we see the first execution on this theme of the environment Marten de Vos. Later Marten de Vos made the engraving that we see in the images by copying from the original work, which is why the engraving appears with the figures in contrast. Marten de Vos was a Flemish painter known mainly for his allegorical paintings and portraits in particular. He was, along with the brothers Ambrosius Francken I and Frans Francken I, one of the leading history painters of the Spanish Netherlands. De Vos was a prolific draughtsman and produced numerous designs for the Antwerp printers. These circulated widely in Europe and the Spanish colonies and contributed to his international reputation and influence. His designs were also used as models for tapestries and stained glass. In the 1580s he produced multiple designs for engravings and book illustrations. From Mannerism, his style evolved to become clear and descriptive, in perfect correspondence with the ideas of the Counter-Reformation. His brother Pieter de Vos was also a painter and some works previously attributed to Maerten de Vos have been provisionally re-attributed to this brother or to the so-called pseudo-de Vos. The so-called Marten de Vos Sketchbook (c. 1560; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) containing copies of earlier drawings of classical works of art has now been attributed to the circle of Frans Floris. Following the iconoclastic depredations of the Beeldenstorm, which reached its climax in 1566 and resulted in the destruction of much of the art in the churches of Flanders, de Vos became one of the artists charged with redecorating the plundered churches with new altarpieces. Many of these, such as St. Luke Painting the Virgin (1602), painted for the altar of the Guild of St. Luke in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp (now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp) to replace one on the same subject painted by Quinten Metsys and destroyed more than 20 years earlier, and the Wedding at Cana (1597), painted for the guild of wine merchants, were commissioned by major Antwerp organizations.