Verona - Venice, 1487 -1553 · Between Palma the Old, Bellini and the young Titian

The Nativity opens onto a tripartite landscape where shepherds, Joseph, Virgin and Child balance in a warm and pastoral color.

Bonifazio de' Pitati, known as Bonifazio Veronese, was born in Verona in 1487 and died in Venice in 1553. Trained with Palma the Elder, he became an independent painter around 1515 and directed a very active workshop. His art is located at the crossroads of Bellini, Giorgione and Titian, whose innovations he adapts to clear and warm narrative compositions. The Adoration of the Prado Shepherds, painted around 1523 on a panel measuring 118 × 168 cm, belongs to his first period. The symmetry and division of the landscape into three parts are characteristic of these years. On the left, seated Joseph leans on his staff; The symmetry and division of the landscape into three parts are characteristic of these years. On the left, seated Joseph leans on his staff; a shepherd dressed in green speaks to him and two flutes rest nearby. In the center, the Child brings together the eyes in soft light. The landscape is not an indifferent background: paths, architecture and sky extend the pastoral simplicity of the story. The work was once described as falling in Titian's first way, a sign of the stylistic proximity between the Venetian masters of this generation. The "Bonifazio Veronese" selection notably compares The Adoration of the Shepherds.. His reading favors the atmosphere.

Bonifazio makes Adoration a peaceful conversation: the sacred radiates without breaking the continuity of the landscape and pastoral life.