Seguace di Guido Reni (XVII), Follower of - Una adoración

Title: Nativity / Adoration of the Child with Angels
Author: Anonymous. Circle / Guido Reni School (Bologna, 1575-1642)
School: Italian, Bolognese, Classic Baroque
Dating: 17th century – first half of the 18th century
Technique: Oil on copper plate
Support: Beaten copper plate, with two original upper hanging holes
Dimensions: Approximately 21 x 28 cm (without frame). Private devotional format for a small chapel/oratory
Frame: No original frame on the image provided
Iconographic description:
Composition centered on the Virgin Mary seated on a sheaf of straw, wearing ultramar blue mantle and pinkish tunic, holding a cloth on which the naked Child Jesus rests, with a golden nimbus. The Virgin gazes with ecstatic look toward a celestial light breaking through clouds at the top, where a break of gloria is observed in ochre and gold tones. To the left, in the background and in shadow, an old, bearded St. Joseph in a meditative or sleeping posture, resting on his hand. To the right, two angels with blond hair and pale wings in adoration, hands joined in prayer. The scene unfolds in a nocturnal outdoor landscape with cloudy sky, typical of Rennaisian-influenced Nativities.
Stylistic analysis:
Work of clear Rennaisian lineage, derived from Guido Reni’s models. Exhibits the characteristics of the Bolognese Classic Baroque: refined drawing, soft and refined modeling, bright colors with a clear palette, use of chiaroscuro moderately to emphasize the main figures, and an expression of sweet contained devotion. The Virgin figure, with a perfect oval, rosy cheeks, and elevated gaze, is typical of Reni’s feminine types. The technique on copper, which Reni practiced since the early 1590s according to London’s National Gallery, allows a smooth finish, brilliant enamel, and meticulous detail, thanks to the hard, non-absorbent metal surface. This type of small-format copper works was intended for private devotion of the aristocracy and clergy.
Technique of execution on copper:
Painting on copper sheet emerged in Italy around 1530 in an experimental Renaissance milieu. The copper sheet was prepared with a fine primer, usually gray, reddish, or lead-white, to ensure oil adhesion. Its non-porous surface prevents color sinking, maintaining saturation and allowing translucent glazes and punctual brilliances. In Italy, large-presence figures with fine modeling were favored over Flemish detailed preciousness. The present work shows a thin pictorial layer, with visible priming reserves in the zones of celestial light.
Condition (as seen in image):
It shows an oxidized and generalized yellowed varnish, with surface dirt and small localized losses of polychromy, especially in the upper area corresponding to the break of gloria and at the upper edge with two anchoring holes. Slight wear on the blue mantle. Overall stable pictorial layer, with no signs of relining as it is metal.
Professional varnish cleaning and final protective varnish recommended.
Provenance and function:
Devotional small-format painting intended for private oratory, domestic chapel, or monastic cell. Rennaean-school copper works circulated widely in Europe and the Americas from the 17th century, spread by engravings and Jesuit missionary activity.
Similar works are conserved in Spanish and American collections, documented in studies on copper painting in the viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru.

Note: the painting is sold without a frame.
The photograph that appears with a frame is an AI recreation.