''Adoration of the Shepherds'' is a c. 1540 oil on canvas painting by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, now in the

Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo The Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo is a public art museum in Brescia, Lombardy. Established in 1851, the museum exhibits mainly paintings by local artists dated from the Thirteenth through the Eighteenth century. The museum's current collection in ...

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

. It was one of the painter's last works and he also produced variants on it, including one in

San Giobbe The Church of St Job ( it, Chiesa di San Giobbe) is a 15th-century Roman Catholic church located overlooking the campo of the same name, known as ''Sant'Agiopo'' in Venetian dialect, on the south bank of the Cannaregio canal near Ponte dei Tre Arc ...

in Venice.

Description and style

The painting is part of the painter's last phase, characterized by intense and sometimes dark shades and by a use of pasty color, capable of giving particular effects that simulate velvet. The scene of the adoration of the Child is set in front of the hut, in which the ox and the donkey protrude from the half-light. Further behind, from a small window, two shepherds lean to assist and a third is leaning against a wall on the right. Their description, with lively everyday accents, follows a Flemish tradition (used for example by Bosch, which the artist had admired in Venice). However, these popular elements are ennobled by the artist's refined and elegant technique. Joseph and Mary, devoid of haloes and attributes, have simple, almost rustic features. On the carpenter's shoe leaning forward you can see the detail of a veil of dust: a note of realism that later influenced

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

. In the distance, a glow illuminates the sky with dense turquoise tones: it is the only supernatural hint of the painting, representing the angel who gave the announcement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adoration of the Shepherds Paintings by Girolamo Savoldo 1540 paintings Paintings in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo

Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is noted for his subtle use ...

Paintings of Saint Joseph