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The Adoration of the Shepherds
ca. 1598-1599
Artwork Viewer
The first visitors to celebrate the birth of Jesus were poor shepherds whose humility granted them an exalted proximity to God. Joachim Wtewael set this scene amid ruins—symbolizing the decline of a pagan era—inspired by ancient Roman architecture the artist encountered during a four-year journey through Italy and France. Upon returning to his native Utrecht, Wtewael painted multiple versions of this composition, incorporating ideas he had found in Italian art, from the exaggerated poses to the artificially bright colors. Simultaneously, he demonstrated a typically Dutch attention to domestic details: the dog by the fireside, the Virgin Mary’s earthenware pot.
- Artist
- Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael
- Title
- The Adoration of the Shepherds
- Date
- ca. 1598-1599
- Place of Creation
- Nederland
- Object Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 34 1/8 x 44 1/8 in. (86.7 x 112.1 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase, European Art Trust Fund, the Roscoe and Margaret Oakes Income Fund, and by exchange from the Mildred Anna Williams Collection, André J. Kahn-Wolf, Julia Wise, Donald McLeod Lewis in memory of Mabelle McLeod Lewis, Dr. T. Edward and Tullah Hanley, Bradford, Pennsylvania; Herbert Fleishhacker, Sydney Menzie Wynn and the Ernest M.P. Wayne Estate, Forrest Engelhart and Julia May Babcock
- Accession Number
- 1999.130
