The Miracle of the Quails, executed in 1554, is among the artist’s largest and most ambitious works. It was previously in a private collection and had rarely been seen by scholars and has never been on public display. It was acquired by the Getty from New York dealership OMP Fine Art. When asked about the purchase price, a spokesperson of the museum said: “We never discuss purchase price as a matter of policy.”

Major works by the artist are rarely available. The auction record for Bassano stands at $7.8m (£4.7m) for The Adoration of the Shepherds that sold at Christie's New York in 2014, although that picture was under half the size of the Getty’s latest acquisition.