Le Nain Brothers | The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1640

A group gathers around a manger to adore the newborn Christ.

On the right, the Virgin Mary and Joseph gaze reverently at the infant, alongside two small angels.

On the left are two young boys and an old, barefooted man: they are the shepherds mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (2: 8-20).

Le Nain Brothers (fl. 17th century) | The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1640 | The National Gallery, London

The boy wearing a hat and one of the angels appear to have seen or heard something outside the painting, possibly the arrival of the Three Kings.

The scene takes place in the ruins of a classical building rather than in the stable described in the Bible.

Such ruins were often used in depictions of the Nativity to symbolise the decline of the old pagan world with the rise of Christianity.

The chipped marble of the columns and the vines growing over the stone heighten the sense of the buildings’ disrepair.

The arch both protects the figures and leads the eye towards a distant building and a delicately painted rural landscape.

The artist has employed a sumptuous palette, contrasting the bold red of the Virgin’s dress with the delicate pink and green hues of the angels’ robes.

The humble setting is amplified by the bare ground and the ruins’ pale, earthy tones.

Strong shadows in the foreground draw our attention towards the bright, radiant light falling on the Christ Child, as well as to his delicate halo.

Further contrasts are found between the beautiful, idealised Virgin and the more naturalistic shepherd, whose tattered clothes and dirty, wrinkled feet remind us of his poverty.

This naturalism became extremely popular in the early seventeenth century through the works of Caravaggio; the idea to silhouette the donkey against the wall to the right may have its origins in the work of Orazio Gentileschi, a follower of Caravaggio who worked in Paris.

A major pentimento is visible just above the wings of the angel in green where the Virgin’s head was originally painted in an earlier version of the composition.

A painting of this size would have been made for private devotion in someone’s home, not for a church.

It combines refined elegance with carefully observed naturalistic detail: compare, for example, the beautiful, idealised Virgin with the older shepherd’s tattered clothes and dirty, wrinkled feet.

Although we aren’t sure which of the three Le Nain brothers - Antoine (1600-1648), Louis (1603-1648) and Mathieu (1607-1677) - painted the picture, the complexity of the subject and the scale of the composition make it one of the greatest produced by them. | Source: © The National Gallery, London

Le Nain Brothers (fl. 17th century) | The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1640 | The National Gallery, London

Un gruppo si raduna attorno ad una mangiatoia per adorare il Cristo neonato.

A destra, la Vergine Maria e Giuseppe guardano con riverenza il bambino, accanto a due piccoli angeli.

A sinistra ci sono due giovani ragazzi ed un uomo anziano a piedi nudi: sono i pastori menzionati nel Vangelo di Luca (2, 8-20).

Questa scena si svolge tra le rovine di un edificio classico piuttosto che nella stalla descritta nella Bibbia, a simboleggiare il declino del vecchio mondo pagano con l'ascesa del cristianesimo.

Non siamo sicuri di quale dei tre Fratelli Le Nain - Antoine (1600-1648), Louis (1603-1648) e Mathieu (1607-1677) - abbia dipinto questo dipinto, ma è uno dei più grandi da loro realizzati.

Realizzato per la devozione privata in casa di qualcuno, combina un'eleganza raffinata con dettagli naturalistici attentamente osservati: si confronti, ad esempio, la bellissima Vergine idealizzata con le vesti lacere ed i piedi sporchi e rugosi del pastore anziano. | Fonte: © The National Gallery, London

Le Nain Brothers (fl. 17th century) | Child Christ before the instruments of the Passion, 1642-1648