Caravaggio 1573 – 1610

The Adoration of the Shepherds

oil on canvas (314 × 211 cm) — c. 1609
Museo Regionale, Messina

Caravaggio biography

This work is linked to Luke 2:16

Mary and her child rest on the floor of a simple barn. In the back are the ox and the ass; on the foreground Joseph's tools. Joseph is the man in brown, to be identified by the halo over his head.

It is a very peaceful tableau. Apart from the two halos, only the clasped hands of one of the shepherds hint at the religious importance.

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