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The Virgin Mary kneels and bows her head before the newborn Christ, while her husband Joseph sits behind her on a low rock. Three shepherds bow in worship to the left. Despite its small scale, the painting demonstrates Signorelli’s immense skill at drawing the human body in complex poses, covering and revealing forms through their draperies. The size and shape of this little panel makes it look like it is part of a predella, which is the lowest tier of an altarpiece running along the bottom of the main image. But the decorative framing elements make it more likely that it was intended as a stand-alone image, possibly the bottom edge of a tabernacle, a container in which the Host (the bread that was consecrated at the Eucharist) was stored.
Title
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Date
probably about 1490-1510
Medium
Oil on wood
Measurements
H 17.1 x W 64.8 cm
Accession number
NG1776
Acquisition method
Bought, 1900
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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