adoration of the shepherds, famous paintings

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Page 1: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings
Page 2: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

Adoration of the Shepherds

Famous Paintings

Page 3: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Page 4: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows the bare empty space in which the newborn Infant Jesus is lying in the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 5: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows a detail of the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 6: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows angels at the top left of the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 7: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows the left side of the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 8: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows kneeling angels at the left side of the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 9: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows a group of praying angels, a detail of the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 10: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows the group of shepherds on the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 11: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Page 12: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Page 13: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows the bare empty space in which the newborn Infant Jesus is lying in the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.

Page 14: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds(detail)1476-79Oil on woodGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The picture shows a vase and a glass containing orange lilies, the symbol of the Passion, three irises, Van der Goes's favourite flower, and a few columbine stalks, the emblem of melancholy and a common symbol of the Virgin's pains. A sheaf of corn lies flat on the ground behind these flowers, alluding to the Incarnation and the Eucharist.

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BRONZINO, AgnoloAdoration of the Shepherds1539-40Oil on wood, 65 x 47 cmSzépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

Page 17: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

BRONZINO, AgnoloAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1539-40Oil on wood, 65 x 47 cmSzépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

Page 18: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

BRONZINO, AgnoloAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1539-40Oil on wood, 65 x 47 cmSzépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

Page 19: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

BRONZINO, AgnoloAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1539-40Oil on wood, 65 x 47 cmSzépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

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Page 21: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GIORGIONEThe Adoration of the Shepherds1505-10Oil on panel, 91 x 111 cmNational Gallery of Art, Washington

Page 22: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GIORGIONEThe Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)1505-10Oil on panel, 91 x 111 cmNational Gallery of Art, Washington

Page 23: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GIORGIONEThe Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)1505-10Oil on panel, 91 x 111 cmNational Gallery of Art, Washington

Page 24: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GIORGIONEThe Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)1505-10Oil on panel, 91 x 111 cmNational Gallery of Art, Washington

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Page 26: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

CARAVAGGIOAdoration of the Shepherds1609Oil on canvas, 314 x 211 cmMuseo Regionale, Messina

Page 27: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

CARAVAGGIOAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1609Oil on canvas, 314 x 211 cmMuseo Regionale, Messina

Page 28: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

CARAVAGGIOAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1609Oil on canvas, 314 x 211 cmMuseo Regionale, Messina

Page 29: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

CARAVAGGIOAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1609Oil on canvas, 314 x 211 cmMuseo Regionale, Messina

Page 30: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

CARAVAGGIOAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1609Oil on canvas, 314 x 211 cmMuseo Regionale, Messina

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Page 32: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GRECO, ElThe Adoration of the Shepherdsc. 1610Oil on canvas, 144,5 x 101,3 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Page 33: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GRECO, ElThe Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1610Oil on canvas, 144,5 x 101,3 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Page 34: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GRECO, ElThe Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1610Oil on canvas, 144,5 x 101,3 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Page 35: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GRECO, ElThe Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1610Oil on canvas, 144,5 x 101,3 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Page 36: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GRECO, ElThe Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1610Oil on canvas, 144,5 x 101,3 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Page 38: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

MURILLO, Bartolomé EstebanAdoration of the Shepherds1650-55Oil on canvas, 187 x 228 cmMuseo del Prado, Madrid

Page 39: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

MURILLO, Bartolomé EstebanAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1650-55Oil on canvas, 187 x 228 cmMuseo del Prado, Madrid

Page 40: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

MURILLO, Bartolomé EstebanAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1650-55Oil on canvas, 187 x 228 cmMuseo del Prado, Madrid

Page 41: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

MURILLO, Bartolomé EstebanAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1650-55Oil on canvas, 187 x 228 cmMuseo del Prado, Madrid

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Page 43: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derAdoration of the Shepherdsc. 1480Wood, 97 x 245 cmStaatliche Museen, Berlin

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GOES, Hugo van derAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1480WoodStaatliche Museen, Berlin

The Virgin and Joseph are kneeling - almost symmetrically placed - on either side of the crib which, viewed end-on, adds depth to the scene. Angels are crowding round behind the crib in order to be near the Child.

Page 45: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1480WoodStaatliche Museen, Berlin

Page 46: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1480Wood, 97 x 245 cmStaatliche Museen, Berlin

Page 47: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1480Wood, 97 x 245 cmStaatliche Museen, Berlin

Page 48: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

GOES, Hugo van derAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1480Wood, 97 x 245 cmStaatliche Museen, Berlin

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Page 50: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

LORENZO DI CREDIAdoration of the Shepherdsc. 1510Oil on wood, 224 x 196 cmGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Page 51: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

LORENZO DI CREDIAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1510Oil on wood, 224 x 196 cmGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Page 52: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

LORENZO DI CREDIAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1510Oil on wood, 224 x 196 cmGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Page 53: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

LORENZO DI CREDIAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1510Oil on wood, 224 x 196 cmGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Page 54: Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

LORENZO DI CREDIAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)c. 1510Oil on wood, 224 x 196 cmGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

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GHIRLANDAIO, DomenicoAdoration of the Shepherds1483-85Panel, 167 x 167 cmSanta Trinità, Florence

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GHIRLANDAIO, DomenicoAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1483-85Panel, 167 x 167 cmSanta Trinità, Florence

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GHIRLANDAIO, DomenicoAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1483-85Panel, 167 x 167 cmSanta Trinità, Florence

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GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico

Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)

1483-85

Panel

Santa Trinità, Florence

The first shepherd, kneeling down, is Ghirlandaio himself. Striking for the genuineness of his expression and completeness is the old man standing behind, who has the simple, honest appearence of a Tuscan peasant, his sharp, good-natured face lightened by his almost shaven-looking white hair. It looks almost as if he is commenting on the event in a low voice.

In the distance is a town set in the midst of hills and woods that in appearance would seem to be more Northern than Tuscan. Here there is clearly a fresh reminder of Flemish art, especially that of Hugo van der Goes.

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GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico

Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)

1483-85

Panel

Santa Trinità, Florence

Hugo van der Goes' group of adoring shepherds in the Portinari altarpiece returns in Ghirlandaio's Adoration with very obvious similarities. And yet there is no doubt that there is a difference in the physical culture of the people: Ghirlandaio's shepherds, who at the angel's announcement have just left the fields dressed in old work-clothes with picks and hoes, are more comely. Before arriving at the manger they have been home to put on cleaner clothes; their appearance, faces and expressions are less rough, breathless and astonished. There is more tender adoration in them than wonder, and although they have the posture and gestures of simple folk they are certainly anything but coarse. The first shepherd, kneeling down, is Ghirlandaio himself.

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GHIRLANDAIO, DomenicoAdoration of the Shepherds (detail)1483-85PanelSanta Trinità, Florence

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Adoration of the Shepherds, Famous Paintings

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GHIRLANDAIO, DomenicoAdoration of the Shepherds

The Sassetti Chapel is consecrated to the birth of Christ, and as a result much in the chapel is conceived with that event in mind. The altarpiece the Adoration of the Shepherds is the chapel 's key work not only in subject, but also in artistic merit. This composition was so successful that other artists frequently repeated it. Ghirlandaio himself appears in the scene, dressed as a shepherd. He is even allowed to come closer to the Christ Child than the donors, who appear in frescoes to the right and left, praying outside the confines of the panel.

The artist, who is leading the shepherds, is kneeling and bringing the miracle of the birth of Christ to the attention of both the shepherds and the observers of the picture. His left hand, with which he is pointing to the Christ Child, is finely drawn and is superbly modelled in three dimensions. With his right hand, his painting hand, he is pointing to his chest, as he does in a later fresco in the Tornabuoni Chapel. As Ghirlandaio is pointing both at the child and the garlands on the Roman marble sarcophagus, it is possible that the gesture is

saying: "This holy child was painted for you by me, the garland-maker Ghirlandaio."

The classical sarcophagus in the picture is not just a manger for the ox and ass. It also has an iconographical significance indicated by the Latin inscription along its front: Ense cadens. Solymo. Pompei Pului[us] Augur Numen. Ait. Quae me conteg[it] Urna Dabit. [While Fulvi(us), augur of Pompey, was falling by the sword in Jerusalem he said: the urn that

covers (conceals) me shall bring forth a god]. This is an ancient prophecy by Fulvius. The animals' manger will serve as a crib for the Christ Child. In his Adoration of the Shepherds, Ghirlandaio combines this reference to the Roman classical age with knowledge of Flemish art and turns them into an integrated whole.

An historic event that took place a few years before this work was painted clearly left its mark behind on Ghirlandaio's work. An altarpiece ordered by Tommaso Portinari from Hugo van der Goes in Bruges reached Florence in May 1483. Florentine artists saw van der Goes' Adoration of the Shepherds as a shining comet showing new ways of painting. In

Ghirlandaio's altarpiece, the shepherds pushing their way into the picture from the right, with their harsh, life-like features, are drawn directly from this Flemish model. Ghirlandaio's landscape in the background also displays features from north of the Alps.

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GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych

This large triptych is the most important work of the Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes, constituting the basis for a reconstruction of the artist's entire oeuvre. It was painted in Bruges and was commissioned to the artist by Tommaso Portinari, an agent of the Medicean bank who resided in the city with his family The painting was intended for the high

altar of Sant' Egidio, the church of the Arcispedale of Santa Maria Nuova founded in 1288 by the banker's ancestor Folco Portinari. Shipped from Bruges by sea, with the financial aid of the banker Niccolò di Giovanni Capponi, it arrived in Pisa by way of Sicily. The painting was then transported along the Arno and finally completed its tortuous journey at the Porta San Frediano in Florence on 28 May 1483. From here it was carried to its destination by sixteen strong porters under the surveillance of Meo di Tingo, an envoy of the

Arcispedale. In 1567 the triptych was dismembered.

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GOES, Hugo van derPortinari Triptych, The Adoration of the Shepherds

The picture shows the central panel of the Portinari Triptych.The Adoration of the Shepherds, the most important work by the greatest Netherlandish painter of the late 15th century, has a unique historical and artistic

significance. The altar was donated to the Florentine church of San Egidio by Tommaso Portinari, who since 1465 had been living in princely style in Bruges as manager of the Medici family's commercial interests. The central panel is flanked by two wings depicting other members of the Portinari family and the family's patron saints, with a

grisaille Annunciation on their reverse.

From an artistic point of view, the differences between this work and those of the preceding generation, and indeed earlier paintings by the same master, are astounding. While space and anatomy are easily mastered, they are no longer major themes of the composition, The infant Jesus lies within an aureole in an outdoor square, surrounded

by his parents, clusters of angels and the worshipping shepherds. The more or less circular arrangement of the figures can be perceived equally in three-dimensional and two-dimensional terms. While the figures may have lost volume in comparison to the Monforte Altar, their faces and gestures have gained in expressiveness. A certain

impression of spatial depth is suggested by the figures' varying distances from the front of the picture and by the oblique line running from the Antique-style column beside Joseph in the left-hand foreground, through the manger with the ox and ass, and on through the buildings in the middle ground. Its logic is overthrown, however,

as the artist reverts to the medieval system in which figures are portrayed on a scale directly related to their importance. Thus the angels in the foreground are surprisingly small in comparison to Mary and Joseph - a contrast repeated in the sizes of the donors and saints portrayed in the wings.

Details such as the angels in their copes and the still-life of flowers in the foreground are executed with an exquisite delicacy unsurpassed in the entire painting of the Early Renaissance.

The influence of the Portinari Altar, which was erected in Florence in 1478, was felt by many of the Florentine painters and is reflected in particular in the works of Ghirlandaio and Leonardo.

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BRONZINO, AgnoloAdoration of the Shepherds

According to Vasari, this small devotional painting was commissioned by Filippo di Averardo Salviati (1513-1572). It was most likely destined for a private chapel in the Salviati villa.

This jewel-like painting displays the extreme refinement of execution and luxury of materials characteristic of Florentine Mannerism, with 'disegno' (drawing), sculptural modelling of forms, and enamel-like finish apparent in every detail. The entire upper half of the composition is a deep landscape of lakes and hills, above which stretches a vast blue sky that

Bronzino painted in expensive lapis lazuli. To the right, an angel announcing the birth of Christ to a single shepherd hovers in the sky, and in the foreground five putti fly in celebration directly over the Nativity scene.

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GIORGIONEThe Adoration of the Shepherds

The Adoration of the Shepherds or the Allendale Nativity, as it is commonly known after one of the previous owners, is now generally accepted as by Giorgione. However, the debate on its attribution continues, with Bellini and the young Titian considered as possible authors. It is assumed by some critics that the landscape was painted by Titian.

This important work had an immediate impact on Venetian painting. The composition is divided into two parts, the dark cave on the right and a luminous Venetian landscape on the left. The shimmering draperies of Joseph and Mary are set off by the darkness behind them, and are also contrasted with the tattered dress of the shepherds. The scene is one of

intense meditation; the rustic shepherds are the first to recognize Christ's divinity and they kneel accordingly. Mary and Joseph also participate in the adoration, creating an atmosphere of intimacy.

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CARAVAGGIOAdoration of the Shepherds

While in Messina, Caravaggio was contracted to paint four scenes of the Passion. If he finished any of them, nothing now survives. This nativity scene, Susinno says, was ordered by the Senate of Messina for the Capuchin church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. A Franciscan simplicity pervades it: in the wooden barn a donkey and an ox stand patiently at the

back, there is straw on the floor and in a basket the Holy Family have a loaf of bread, the carpenter's tools of Joseph and some pieces of cloth. Joseph (in red) introduces the shepherds, in brown and grey, to the young Virgin Mother, whose dress is a brighter red. Mary cuddles her baby peacefully and, apart from two haloes, only the bare-shouldered

young man, who kneels with clasped hands, gives the moment of the child's discovery a hint of its meaning. God became man as one of the poor. Ironically, for this canvas Caravaggio received 1000 scudi, the highest amount mentioned in any accounts of his career.

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GRECO, ElThe Adoration of the Shepherds

c. 1610Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This painting served as a sort of prelude to the great Adoration of the Shepherds (Museo del Prado, Madrid) El Greco planned for his own tomb. The idea of a nocturnal Nativity certainly originated with El Greco's recollection of Correggio celebrated altarpiece known as 'La Notte' (now in Dresden) and of certain paintings by the Bassano,

both Jacopo and Francesco.

El Greco's great paintings, like this Adoration, are ecstatic visions, in an unearthly light, with dreamlike distortions of forms, released from earthly perceptions. Mystics have spoken of luminous apparitions, poets have continually sought to reproduce dream faces in words: El Greco caught the visions of those in ecstasy and the magic

imagery of the dreamers in line and colour, in exact recollection of the experience and without assimilation to the visible world.

From the moment of the 'overcoming of sensual perception' El Greco's paintings are filled with an optical content which cannot be further explained, which defies all the laws of composition and colour and can no longer be tested by the proportions and optics of the tangible and visible world.

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MURILLO, Bartolomé EstebanAdoration of the Shepherds

Murillo, like Velázquez and Ribera, is one of the few Spanish artists with an international reputation. In his own lifetime Murillo's genre scenes were exported to Flanders, but much greater interest was aroused by his work in the early nineteenth century, when, following the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, the agents of French and other collectors were

able to acquire and export pictures by him of other types.In this early painting the typical characteristics of the Seville school, by which he was formed, can be observed. There is an accent on clear detail, emphasized by the contrasts

of light and shade. The rather high viewpoint creates the impression that one has just walked in on to the scene represented: such effects of intimacy and directness were typical of the aims of Counter-Reformation Baroque.

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GOES, Hugo van derAdoration of the Shepherds

Hugo van der Goes painted this work in the closing years of his life, presumably a decade after the Monforte Altarpiece, after he had retired in 1478 into a monastery near Brussels as a lay-brother. The peculiar flatness of the faces and the contrived nature of the whole composition are symptomatic of his later period, in which transitory motifs

also become prominent. Although this panel may lack the cohesion of the Monforte Altarpiece, one can still detect in it - particularly in the undignified intrusion of the shepherds - a bold and final attempt by a great artist, who was close to death, to break with accepted tradition in painting and strike out along a new path.

The Virgin and Joseph are kneeling - almost symmetrically placed - on either side of the crib which, viewed end-on, adds depth to the scene. Angels are crowding round behind the crib in order to be near the Child. Through an opening in the wall in the right background one has a glimpse of the shepherds in the fields, receiving the glad news.

On the left side of the picture, two of them rush in, baring their heads as they enter. The entire scene is revealed to the observer by two prophets in the foreground, who draw the curtains back and create the illusion of 'unveiling' it.

The unusually wide yet shallow format of the picture has given rise to the suggestion that it may have been originally designed as a predella. But such an assumption would presuppose an altar of enormous dimensions, the existence of which could not have remained completely unknown. Besides, there is no evidence of predellas in Netherlandish

painting, so for the time being the artist's purpose must remain a matter of conjecture.

In his Adoration of the Shepherds the painter created something that is far removed from his earlier work, the Monforte Altarpiece. There the composure and dignity of the kings and the natural simplicity of their bearing contrast sharply with the commotion and crowding of the later work, which gives the impression of being somewhat contrived.

There is no doubt that the format prescribed by the patron presented the painter with problems of form which were not easy to solve.

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LORENZO DI CREDIAdoration of the Shepherds

The painting shows meticulous draftsmanship and technical perfection, but is totally devoid of any dramatic force, the artist having eclectically assimilated influences from other artists - Perugino, Verrocchio and even Leonardo himself. The inspiration from the Adoration of Hugo van der Goes is also evident.

The absence of any emotional involvement may be due to the fact that at the end of his life Lorenzo di Credi was a disciple of Savonarola. The figures in his paintings, as in this case, have serious, meditative expressions, are charged with an inner gloom which the painter mitigates only with that small amount of grace allowed in the church ceremony.

Only one angel, standing, seems to be engaged in reasoning with a companion on the mysteries of the Birth. St Joseph, leaning on his staff, looks wistfully at the scene, and a shepherd holding a lamb looks to be distracted by something else.

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The Adoration of the Shepherds, in the Nativity of Jesus in art, is a scene in which shepherds are near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, arriving soon after the actual birth. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred

to by the latter title.

The Adoration of the Shepherds is based on the account in the Luke 2, not reported by any other Canonical Gospel, which states that an angel appeared to a group of shepherds, saying that Christ had been born in Bethlehem, followed by a crowd of angels saying Glory to God in

the highest, peace on earth to men of good will.

This Annunciation to the shepherds forms a distinct subject in Christian art and is sometimes included in a Nativity scene as a peripheral feature (even though it occurs prior to the adoration itself), as in the 1485 scene by Domenico Ghirlandaio, where it can be seen in the upper left corner. Ghirlandaio also shows a procession of Magi about to arrive with their

gifts.

The shepherds are then described as hurrying to Bethlehem to visit Jesus, and making widely known what they had been told concerning him, before they finally return to their

flocks. They praise God for "all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them," (Luke 2:20).