Focus on Adoration of the Shepherds (Giorgione) and explain the Attribution.
Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle concluded as early as 1871 that the painting was by Giorgione. Berenson's Venetian Painters (1894) tentatively attributes the painting to Vincenzo Catena. In 1912 Roger Fry wrote that "examination of the forms, particularly of the landscape and the foliage in the foreground leaves little doubt in my mind that it is by Cariani." In 1937 Berenson wrote "it must be Titian's, perhaps his earliest work, but only half out of the egg, the other half still in the Giorgionesque formula". He reiterated this opinion on the back of a photograph in 1937, "Titian, His earliest extant work."
In Berenson's 1957 list of the "Venetian School" the painting is attributed in part to Giorgione with "Virgin and Landscape probably finished by Titian". In the 1979 Shapley catalogue of the National Gallery of Art the painting is given as Giorgione with five dissenters, including Ellis Waterhouse and S. J. Freedberg.
Roger Fry National Gallery of Art S. J. Freedberg Joseph Archer Crowe Titian Vincenzo Catena National Gallery Giorgione Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle Venetian Ellis Waterhouse Cariani