Nicolas Poussin, 'The Adoration of the Shepherds', about 1633-4
About the work
Overview
Shepherds kneel and stand in order to praise the baby Jesus, watched by Joseph and the Virgin Mary. The stone archway frames an earlier episode: the same shepherds fall over in surprise as an angel appears in the clouds to announce Christ’s birth to them. Following an old tradition in painting, Poussin paints these two scenes as if they are happening at the same time, with architecture separating the activity in the distance and foreground.
The stable is built within classical ruins, symbolising the triumph of Christianity over paganism. A young lady carries a ‘birth tray’ of fruits as a present to the new mother and cherubs holding flowers hover above. The women’s vivid blue draperies stand out against the men’s ruddy skin and the coppery stone of the building.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Adoration of the Shepherds
- Artist
- Nicolas Poussin
- Artist dates
- 1594 - 1665
- Date made
- about 1633-4
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 97.2 × 74 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bought with a special grant and contribution from the Art Fund, 1957
- Inventory number
- NG6277
- Location
- Room 29
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century French Frame
Provenance
By 1637 in the collection of Cardinal Giovan Carlo de’ Medici (1611–63) at the Villa Mezzomonte near Florence, and from 1644 at the Casino di Via della Scala, Florence; where recorded in 1647 and again in 1663 in a posthumous inventory of the cardinal’s possessions; possibly the Nativity by Poussin seen by Bernini in 1665 in the hôtel of Louis II Phélypeaux de La Vrillière (1599–1681), secretary of state to Louis XIV, and recorded in 1672 in the collection of La Vrillière’s wife, Marie Particelli; possibly in the collection of André Le Nôtre (1613–1700); possibly in the collection of Pierre Gruyn, Conseiller du Roi (d. 1722); posthumous sale of De Selle, Trésorier Générale de la Marine, at his house, rue Ste Anne, Butte St Roch, Paris, Rémy, 19–28 February 1761 (lot 35, 2400 livres to Thibauls); sale of Sir Joshua Reynolds, deceased, Christie’s, 17 March 1795 (lot 97, 205 guineas to Henry Walton); sold by Walton by 12 March 1796 for 300 guineas to Sir Thomas Beauchamp-Proctor (1756–1827) of Langley Park, Norfolk, and noted there by Neale hanging in the Cabinet Room; recorded in the collection of Sir William Beauchamp Proctor in 1829 and thence by descent to Jocelyn Beauchamp of Langley Park, Norfolk, in whose sale, Sotheby’s, 11 July 1956 (lot 119, £29,000 to D. Koetser as agent for a collector overseas); purchased in 1957 for £33,100, following deferral of an export licence, with money from the Temple-West Fund, a special Treasury grant and assistance from the NACF.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings’, London 2001; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2013André Le NôtreChâteau de Versailles21 October 2013 - 24 February 2014
-
2016Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van DyckThe National Gallery (London)23 June 2016 - 4 September 2016
Bibliography
-
1806P.M. Gault de Saint Germain, Vie de Nicolas Poussin, Paris 1806
-
1830
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
-
1899A. Graves and W.V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A., 4 vols, London 1899
-
1914O. Grautoff, Nicolas Poussin: Sein Werk und sein Leben, Munich 1914
-
1945T. Borenius, 'Sir Joshua Reynolds' Collection of Pictures', The Burlington Magazine, LXXXVII/512, 1945, pp. 262-73
-
1958The National Gallery, The National Gallery: July 1956 - June 1958, London 1958
-
1960D. Mahon, 'Poussin's Early Development: An Alternative Hypothesis', The Burlington Magazine, CII/688, 1960, pp. 288-306
-
1966A. Blunt, The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: A Critical Catalogue, London 1966
-
1969K. Badt, Die Kunst des Nicolas Poussin, Cologne 1969
-
1974J. Thuillier, L'opera completa di Poussin, Milan 1974
-
1980D. Wild, Nicolas Poussin: Band I, Leben, Werk, Exkurse, Band II, Katalog der Werke, Zürich 1980
-
1984S. Mascalchi, 'Giovan Carlo de' Medici: An Outstanding But Neglected Collector in Seventeenth Century Florence', Apollo, CXX/272, 1984, pp. 268-72
-
1990A. Mérot, Nicolas Poussin, London 1990
-
1992R. Verdi, Nicolas Poussin: Tancred and Erminia (exh. cat. Birmingham CMuseum and Art Gallery, 14 October 1992 - 3 January 1993), Birmingham 1992
-
1993R. Beresford, 'Birmingham's "Tancred and Erminia" in Focus', The Burlington Magazine, CXV/1078, 1993, pp. 47-8
-
1994J. Thuillier, Nicolas Poussin, Paris 1994
-
1994P. Rosenberg, L.-A. Prat and V. Damian, Nicolas Poussin: La collection du Musée Condé à Chantilly (exh. cat. Musée Condé, Château de Chantilly, 27 September 1994 - 6 January 1995), Paris 1994
-
1994R. Verdi and P. Rosenberg, Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665 (exh. cat. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 27 September 1994 - 2 January 1995; Royal Academy of Arts, 19 January - 9 April 1995), Paris 1994
-
1995H. Wine, 'Instruction and Delight: The Poussin Exhibitions at the Grand Palais, Paris and the Royal Academy', Apollo, CXLI/398, 1995, pp. 50-3
-
1996R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVII, 1996, pp. 91-103
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2001Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings, London 2001
-
2003C. Pace, 'Collecting French Seventeenth-Century Paintings for the Nation', Art History, XXVI/2, 2003, pp. 281-315
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.
Images
More works by Nicolas Poussin
(Showing 6 of 16 works)
In this wild party, men and women dance around a term – a carved bust of a bearded and horned man. This is traditionally identified as Pan, god of woods and fields, flocks and herds, although the statue could also be Priapus, god of gardens and fertility, who wears floral garlands and exposes his...
Aurora, goddess of dawn, is in love with the mortal Cephalus and tries to seduce him. Cephalus, dressed here in blue, turns away from Aurora, rejecting her advances. He gazes towards a portrait of his wife, Procris, held by a winged cupid. Later, when Cephalus and Procris are reunited, they each...
In the late 1630s, Poussin painted one of the summits of his art: the first series of Seven Sacraments. Commissioned by his friend and patron Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588–1657), Poussin depicted the seven rites of the Catholic Church: Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination an...
A man has been crushed by a snake and lies dead beside a pond: his body is limp and his skin a greenish-grey. We see a man and woman whose gestures and movement show their fear and surprise. The way the landscape is constructed reveals the drama in stages: the running man sees the dead man and th...
A sandy path meanders through a landscape of dunes towards distant hills and mountains. An old man in blue with his back towards us occupies the foreground, a sack and water bottle lying beside him on the ground. He seems to be watching a younger man who bends to scoop water from a pool with a po...
In this picturesque landscape the bright blue sky and leafy trees reflect the warm climate. The path and river lead our eye towards the town in the distance. In the foreground, a seated man washes his feet in a fountain. On the right, a woman beside a shepherd points towards a large column, which...
Not on display
A country track leads from the left foreground between two outcrops of tree-covered rocks, around a limpid pool and towards the distant mountains. In the foreground a man wearing a classical tunic rests by the side of the track. He looks towards a second man in the middle distance, who ties his s...
In the late 1630s, Poussin painted one of the summits of his art: the first series of Seven Sacraments. Commissioned by his friend and patron Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588–1657), Poussin depicted the seven rites of the Catholic Church: Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination an...
A beautiful nymph lying in the foreground seems to be asleep, although she may be enjoying a moment of solitary ecstasy. Beside her a golden-haired child watches as a satyr – a man with a goat’s ears, horns and legs – gently removes her delicate white robe. Another satyr peeps out from behind a t...
In this scene from the Book of Exodus, a large gathering of Israelites worship a life-size statue of a golden calf, or what is actually a bull, which represents the Egyptian bull-god Apis. They have decided to worship a different, pagan god while their leader Moses has been away on Mount Sinai co...
The Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God. The dove of the Holy Ghost hovers above her in a bright circle of light. The Virgin, with her eyes closed and arms outstretched, accepts her role as mother of Christ. Poussin’s treatment of this subject...
Not on display
According to the Old Testament Book of Exodus, Pharaoh ordered all Israelite baby boys to be cast into the river, but Moses’s mother hid him in a basket among the bulrushes. He was discovered there by Pharaoh’s daughter, Thermutis, who is shown here dressed in a yellow robe and surrounded by her...
On display elsewhere
The infant Bacchus, god of wine, drinks from a bowl into which a satyr squeezes grape juice representing wine. Paintings commonly show Bacchus as a drunken adult, but to show him drinking alcohol at this young age is unusual. Ovid’s Metamorphoses describes how Bacchus' aunt Ino watches over him....
In this chaotic woodland party, men and women dance, drink, play music and behave badly. They gather around a statue of a red-faced satyr with horns, which may represent Pan, god of shepherds and herdsmen, or Priapus, god of gardens. Both deities are linked to the mischievous god of wine, Bacchus...
This playful scene celebrates Silenus, companion to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and drunkenness. Silenus, a naked old man with a bald head, sits slumped on a throne to the left, supported by two men. Too drunk to stand, he balances one leg precariously on a tiger. He is surrounded by revellers...
After Nicolas Poussin (?)
The Virgin’s cousin Saint Elizabeth kneels to present the infant Saint John the Baptist to the Christ Child, who is held by his mother. With its warm colours, golden light and sweet interaction between two infants, this intimate scene is very touching. Saint Joseph leans on what looks like a long...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 16 works