Nativity

Vasari Giorgio

(Arezzo 1511 - Florence 1574)

This panel was first documented as forming part of the Borghese Collection in 1650, when Iacomo Manilli described it as a work by Giorgio Vasari. This is probably the same Nativity mentioned by the artist in his autobiography, which some critics believe to be the version from Cardinal Salviati’s collection, while others identify it with the work held by Pierantonio Bandini. Whatever its actual provenance, it is certain that the painting was warmly received by Vasari’s contemporaries, admired for its high stylistic quality and the lighting effects.

Object details

Catalogue entry

The provenance of this painting remains uncertain. Despite its inclusion in the Borghese collection from 1650 onwards, when Manilli mentioned it in the Casino at Porta Pinciana and attributed it to Giorgio Vasari, its earlier history remains elusive. The hypothesis proposed by Paola Della Pergola (1959), identifying it among the possessions of Olimpia Aldobrandini the Younger listed in 1682, appears to be unlikely. The description of the work in the noblewoman’s inventory refers to a depiction of Christ “playing on the ground on straw” (Della Pergola, Aldobrandini 1963, p. 80, no. 409), which diverges significantly from the present composition.

Despite Manilli’s account, the painting’s authorship has been a subject of debate from early on. By 1693, it was already recorded as of uncertain hand and, later, in the fideicommissari inventory of 1833, it was attributed to the Dutch painter Gerrit van Honthorst, an attribution also proposed by Adolfo Venturi (1893), who linked it to the artist’s circle.

The rediscovery of Vasari’s authorship was due to Voss (1913; later corroborated by Rud 1964 and Bénézit ed. 1976), who was the first to attribute the panel to the Aretine master. He connected it to the painting of the same subject executed by Vasari for Pierantonio Bandini, a work referenced by Vasari himself in the Vite [Lives] (1568): “and for Pierantonio Bandini [I painted] a Nativity of Christ, with the light of night and with varied invention.” According to this hypothesis, the painting was executed in Rome in 1553, a view and dating that was accepted by Roberto Longhi (1928), Adolfo Venturi (1933), and Paola Della Pergola (1959).
However, a different interpretation was advanced by Paola Barocchi in 1964. In light of Wolfgang Stechow’s (1939) earlier proposition, she rejected the attribution to Bandini and instead identified the Borghese composition as the “Nativity… painted by night” commissioned by Cardinal Salviati and executed by Vasari around 1546. This interpretation was subsequently reiterated by Laura Corti (1989), who made reference to a drawing (Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, inv. 2084) and a potential workshop replica (Uffizi, inv. 1855). Nevertheless, this hypothesis has not been further explored in subsequent scholarship.

Antonio Iommelli