This painting has obtained a great reputation in Europe, and has been adjudged to be, in many respects, superior to Correggio's celebrated "Holy Night" in the Dresden Gallery. The diffusion of light from the Holy Child is not only a beautiful, but a wonderful effect. The art-critic of the "N.Y. Courier & Enquirer" gives his impressions as follows: "It has the merit of being worthy of its subject both in conception and execution, and to say this is to say much. Too often do we see a sacred subject painfully profaned by the extravagance or imbecility of the artist; and even in the works of some of the great ones of the past, the imposing influence of a grand conception is not unfrequently weakened by the obtrusion of ludicrous anachronisms and degrading triviality. . . . The composition of Steinbruck's 'Adoration,' its general purity and solemnity of tone, and its admirable management of light and shadow, raise it to a high eminence in the lofty range of art to which it aspires. The group which still, in the clear darkness of the night, points to the star above the stable; the figure of Joseph, half in shadow and half in a light; the girl who, leaning from the outside on a beam, bends her face in till it is bathed in the holy light; the hesitating steps of the blind shepherd, and the heavenly expression of countenance in the attendant angels, are some of the fine points in this picture." [P. 26.]
The Dusseldorf Gallery. Catalogue of Paintings, by Artists of the Dusseldorf Academy of Art, now on exhibition at 548 Broadway, New-York. Season Tickets to the Gallery, fifty cents. Sidney and Russell, Printers, 79 John Street, N.Y.
Artist nationality: Dusseldorf School.
Dusseldorf Academy, New York, New York, 1864
The Pre-1877 Art Exhibition Catalogue Index is a historical record of artworks exhibited in the United States and Canada up through the Centennial year of 1876. Information is recorded as given in each exhibition catalog.
