Adoration of the Shepherds#Biblical narrative

The adoration is an episode in the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Luke. Shepherds are watching their flocks by night, apparently near Bethlehem, when an angel appears to announce the good news that "today in the City of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord".{{sfn|Edwards|2015|pp=74–75}} The angelic promise is accompanied by a sign: they will find the saviour in the form of "a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger".{{sfn|Edwards|2015|p=77}} "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host" (the Greek word used here indicates a military formation, an army) appeared and joined the angel, singing "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace among those of good will".{{sfn|Edwards|2015|p=78}}

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." ¹⁶ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

The Annunciation to the Shepherds, which precedes the adoration, forms a distinct subject in Christian art and is sometimes included in a nativity scene as a peripheral feature (even though it occurs before 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.

Roger Baxter reflects on verse 15 ("Let us go to Bethlehem..."), writing, "Observe the prompt obedience of the shepherds, and learn thence to obey with promptitude the divine inspirations." For they came with haste. No one can see Christ slothfully," says St. Ambrose.{{cite book|chapter=The Adoration of the Shepherds.|title=Meditations For Every Day In The Year|year=1823|publisher=Benziger Brothers|first=Roger|last=Baxter|author-link=Roger Baxter|location=New York}}

The Venerable Bede makes a similar comment: "The shepherds hasten, for the presence of Christ must not be sought with sluggishness; and many perchance that seek Christ do not merit to find Him, because they seek Him slothfully."{{cite book|title=The great commentary of Cornelius à Lapide|url=http://www.catholicapologetics.info/scripture/newtestament/Lapide.htm|author-link=Cornelius a Lapide|first=Cornelius|last=Lapide|translator=Thomas Wimberly Mossman|year=1889}}

The scene is very commonly combined with the Adoration of the Magi, which makes for a balanced composition, as the two groups often occupy opposite sides of the image space around the central figures, and represent the theological interpretation of the episode where the two groups – Jewish and gentile – represented the peoples of the world between them.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} This combination is first found in the 6th-century Monza ampullae made in Byzantine Palaestina Prima.

The depiction of the Adoration of the Shepherds as a subject distinct from that of the Magi began to appear in the western Christian world in around the 15th century. The shepherds are sometimes shown presenting simpler gifts to Jesus than those of the Magi, such as lambs. In Italian Renaissance painting, drawing on classical stories of Orpheus, the shepherds are sometimes depicted with musical instruments.Earls, Irene, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xAdrziNnqLIC&pg=PA18 Renaissance Art: A topical dictionary], Greenwood Publishing Group, 1987, {{ISBN|0-313-24658-0}}, p. 18. Alternatively, it has been argued that this motif derives from a custom of playing the pipes before images of the Virgin and Child at Christmas in parts of Italy.{{citation|mode=cs1|first=James|last=Hall|title=Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art|year=1996|location=London|publisher=John Murray|page=7}} A charming but atypical miniature in the La Flora Hours in Naples shows the shepherds playing to the Christ Child, as a delighted Virgin Mary stands to one side.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} It became a common theme in altarpieces as well as other art forms.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Adoration of the shepherds {{!}} History, Art, & Facts |author= |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |date= |access-date=10 December 2023 |url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/adoration-of-the-shepherds-religious-motif}}

Many artists have depicted the subject. Famous examples include:

• Correggio, Adoration of the Shepherds, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
• Caravaggio, Adoration of the Shepherds, Museo Regionale, Messina
• Domenichino, Adoration of the Shepherds, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
• Giorgione, Allendale Nativity, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• El Greco, Adoration of the Shepherds, Museo del Prado, Madrid
• Le Nain brothers, Adoration of the Shepherds, National Gallery, London
• Hugo van der Goes, Portinari Triptych, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
• Lorenzo di Credi, Adoration of the Shepherds, also Uffizi
• Andrea Mantegna, Adoration of the Shepherds, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Edward Burne-Jones's stained-glass windows in Trinity Church, Boston
• Giotto, in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
• Georges de La Tour, Louvre, Paris
• Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
• Nicolas Poussin and Rembrandt, National Gallery, London
• Guido Reni, Adoration of the Shepherds, Certosa di San Martino, Naples
• Martin Schongauer, Berlin
• Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita, Florence
• Gerard van Honthorst, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne

Several well-known Christmas carols mention the Adoration of the Shepherds. Some of these do so along the lines of urging the listener to come to Bethlehem such as the "Shepherd's Pipe Carol". The modern "Calypso Carol" has the lines "Shepherds swiftly from your stupor rise / to see the Saviour of the world," and the chorus "O now carry me to Bethlehem." "Angels We Have Heard on High" says, "Come to Bethlehem and see / Him Whose birth the angels sing."

"O Come, All Ye Faithful" ("Adeste Fideles" in the Latin version) has a verse which runs:

See how the shepherds,

Summoned to His cradle,

Leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;

We too will thither

Bend our joyful footsteps.

Other carols which mention the Adoration of the Shepherds include "Silent Night", "What Child Is This?", "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly", "I Wonder as I Wander", and "O Come, Little Children". The German carol "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" ("From Heaven Above to Earth I Come") contains several stanzas on the subject of following the shepherds and celebrating the newborn baby. The Czech carol "Nesem vám noviny ("Come, All Ye Shepherds", in German "Kommet, ihr Hirten") concerns the adoration of the shepherds; the middle verse of Mari Ruef Hofer's English version runs:

Hasten then, hasten to Bethlehem's stall,

There to see heaven descend to us all.

With holy feeling, there humbly kneeling,

We will adore Him, bow down before Him,

Worship the King.{{Cite web |url=http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comeayes.htm |title=The Cyber Hymnal: Come, All Ye Shepherds |access-date=2015-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328215723/http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comeayes.htm |archive-date=2014-03-28 |url-status=dead }}

File:MCB-icon11.jpg|Adoration of the Magi in the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens

File:Worship of the shepherds by bronzino.jpg| Bronzino

File:Duccio di Buoninsegna 002.jpg|Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308–1311

File:Birth of Jesus - Capella dei Scrovegni - Padua 2016.jpg|Giotto, {{circa|1320|lk=no}}

File:Andrea Mantegna The Adoration of the Shepherds.jpg|Andrea Mantegna, 1451–1453

File:Hugo van der Goes - Trittico Portinari - Google Art Project.jpg|Hugo van der Goes {{circa|1475|lk=no}}

File:Correggio - The Holy Night - Google Art Project.jpg|Correggio, 1529

File:GFerrari Adorazione pastori VC.JPG|Gaudenzio Ferrari {{circa|1533|lk=no}}

File:Bramantino - De aanbidding der herders.jpg|Bramantino between 1500 and 1535

File:Jacopobassano - adoracao01.jpg|Jacopo Bassano, 1580

File:Nicolaes Maes (Dutch - Adoration of the Shepherds - Google Art Project.jpg|Nicolaes Maes, 1660–1590

File:Gerard van Honthorst - Adoration of the Shepherds (1622).jpg|Gerard van Honthorst, 1622

File:Gerard van Honthorst 002.jpg|Matthias Stom, between 1625 and 1650

File:Limoges-Plaque.jpg|French Limoges enamel plaque, mid-16th century

File:Guido Reni 003.jpg|Guido Reni, 1630–1642

File:The Adoration of the Shepherds - Jacob Jordaens - Google Cultural Institute.jpg|Jacob Jordaens, 1657

File:Retablo del Nacimiento. Huelgas.jpg|Gregorio Fernández, {{circa|1614|lk=no}}

File:Polidoro Caldara da Caravaggio Adorazione dei pastori Messina Museo Regionale.jpg|Polidoro da Caravaggio, 16th century

Image:Georges de La Tour 001.jpg|Georges de La Tour {{circa|1644|lk=no}}

File:Adoracion de los Reyes magos1.jpg|El Greco, 1614

File:Shepherds Bow - Google Art Project.jpg|Ukrainian religious icon, late 17th century

File:Toul cathedral nativity.JPG|Ignace Robert {{circa|1691|lk=no}}, Toul Cathedral

File:S Conca Adoración de los Pastores 1720 Getty Museum Los Angeles.jpg|Sebastiano Conca {{circa|1720|lk=no}}

File:Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo - The Adoration of the Shepherds - WGA22371.jpg|Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, {{circa|1751–1753|lk=no}}

File:Brooklyn Museum - The Adoration of the Shepherds (L'adoration des bergers) - James Tissot - overall.jpg|James Tissot, 1886–1894

• Adoration of the Magi
• Marian art in the Catholic Church
• Nativity of Jesus in art

{{Reflist}}

• Beckwith, John (1969). Early Medieval Art. Thames and Hudson. {{ISBN|0-500-20019-X}}.
• {{Cite book

|last = Edwards

|first = James R.

|title = The Gospel of Luke

|publisher = Eerdmans

|year = 2015

|isbn = 9780802837356

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E2ffBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74

}}

• Levey, Michael (1961). From Giotto to Cézanne. Thames and Hudson. {{ISBN|0-500-20024-6}}.
• Myers, Bernard (1965, 1985). Landmarks of Western Art. Hamlyn. {{ISBN|0-600-35840-2}}.

• {{commons category-inline}}

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Category:Gospel of Luke

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