Luca Signorelli, 'The Adoration of the Shepherds', probably about 1490-1510

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Luca Signorelli

Not on display

About the work

Overview

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. The painting was once thought to be unfinished but it is more likely that it was simply painted quite quickly.

In-depth

Three shepherds kneel to worship the newborn baby Christ. According to the Gospel of Luke, the shepherds were told of the birth of a saviour by an angel and went in search of the child: ‘they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.’ (Luke 2:16).

The size and shape of this little panel makes it look like it is part of a predella, the lowest tier of an altarpiece which runs 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 consecrated at the Eucharist) was stored.

The painting was once thought to be unfinished but it is more likely that it was simply painted quite quickly. The figures' postures are dictated by the panel’s shape; Signorelli has compressed their substantial bodies into the available space by showing them almost doubled over in prayer before the tiny Christ, who lies naked on the ground. The Virgin Mary kneels and bows her head before her child while her husband Joseph sits on a low rock, forcing his knees up towards his chest, his pose mirroring the shepherd on the far left. The front two kneeling shepherds resemble those in another, much larger Adoration of the Shepherds by Signorelli, though they bow more deeply to the ground.

Despite its small scale, the panel demonstrates Signorelli’s immense skill at drawing the human body in complex poses, covering and revealing forms through their draperies. The gravity of the figures here is emphasised by the deep folds of their thick draperies, which add volume to their shape. It’s not surprising then that someone has tried to copy their forms by tracing the outlines with a sharp tool – close observation reveals incision lines around their bodies and the folds of their robes, showing how hard the person pressed. The panel has suffered other damage since it was painted: the edges have been cut and the landscape on the right-hand side was part of a restoration, probably dating to the eighteenth century.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Adoration of the Shepherds
Artist: Luca Signorelli
Artist dates: about 1440/50 - 1523
Date made: probably about 1490-1510
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 17.1 × 64.8 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1900
Inventory number: NG1776
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

It is not known from what altarpiece this panel comes. It is first recorded in 1856 in the Collection of Agostino Castellani at Cortona. Later owned by Conte Colonna Ferretti at Cortona. Purchased from P. and D. Colnaghi, who had had it from E. Volpi, 1900.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1903

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, Umbria, Florence and Siena, from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, ed. R.L. Douglas, 2nd edn, 6 vols, London 1903
1903

G. Mancini, Vita di Luca Signorelli, Florence 1903
1923

R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
1951

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
1953

M. Salmi, Luca Signorelli, Novara 1953
1961

M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
1968

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, revised edn, 3 vols, London 1968
1985

C.T. Dowd, 'The Travel Diary of Otto Mündler', The Walpole Society, LI, 1985
1986

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
1996

T. Henry, The Career of Luca Signorelli in the 1490s, Phd Thesis, Courtauld Institute of Art 1996
1997

National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, October 1997 - January 2000', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XXI, 2000
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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You've viewed 6 of 8 works

Luca Signorelli, 'The Adoration of the Shepherds', probably about 1490-1510

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Luca Signorelli