The Adoration of the Shepherds
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
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About this painting
No lamp burns in this room. The child is himself the only light, and the glow off his body finds the faces of Mary, Joseph and the three shepherds.
Italy called Honthorst Gherardo delle Notti for his night-light scenes. At the height of his powers he paints the night and withholds the flame.
At the edge of the dark an ox leans in. Luke never put it there. The beasts at the manger are Isaiah's: the ox knoweth his owner … but Israel hath not known me. The creature the light barely reaches is the one the prophet says knows.
Sources: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Baroque collection, Gallery 2 · CODART, 'Wonderful - Honthorst's Adoration of the Shepherds', Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud · HNA News, 'Wundervoll: Honthorsts Anbetung der Hirten' · DOMRADIO.DE, interview with Carsten Schmalstieg · Gallerie degli Uffizi, 'Gherardo delle Notti. Bizarre paintings and cheerful suppers', 2015 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'The Birth and Infancy of Christ in Italian Painting', Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. · Glencairn Museum, 'Nativity: Visual Elements in the Nativity'. · Isaias 1:3, Douay-Rheims (Challoner).
And they came with haste: and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
Luke 2:16 · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), from the project’s own corpus at data/bible_drc.js
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 3,948 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.