RINALDO MANTOVANO (DOMENICO RINALDO) (Mantua, early 16th century) A Seated Shepherd with a Crook.
Pen and brown ink on cream laid paper. 156x151 mm; 6x6 inches. Inscribed "Rinaldo" and "Giulio romano" in ink, lower recto.
Provenance: Private collection, Massachusetts.
Mantovano, also called Domenico Rinaldo, was an Italian painter from Mantua who was active between 1527 and 1539. According to Vasari, he was the most talented assistant of Giulio Romano during his stay in the service of the ruling Gonzaga family and he was among those who decorated the Palazzo del Te in Mantua.
Romano's Adoration of the Shepherds oil on panel, circa 1535, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and originally painted for the St. Longinus Chapel in the church of Sant'Andrea, Mantua, with the seated shepherds in the distant upper background, may have been the source for this study of a seated shepherd.
