Catalogue entry
The Le Nain Brothers Antoine c.1600(?)–1648, Louis c.1603(?)–1648, Mathieu 1607–1677
NG 6331
Adoration of the Shepherds
, 2001
Extracted from:
Humphrey Wine, The Seventeenth Century French Paintings (London: National Gallery Company and Yale University Press, 2001).
© The National Gallery, London
Oil on canvas, 109.2 × 138.7 cm
Provenance
Possibly Robert Strange sale, Christie’s, 7 February 1771, as Le Nain (lot 21, £42 to Walters);1 possibly sale of George Robert Fitzgerald and others, Christie’s, 20 March 1773, as Le Naine (sic), (lot 85, £15 4s. 6d. to C Bruy (?));2 in the collection of George Spencer (1739–1817), 4th Duke of Marlborough, at Blenheim Palace, near Woodstock, by 1777, as by Luca Giordano;3 George Charles Spencer‐Churchill (1844–92), 8th Duke of Marlborough, sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, 7 August 1886 (lot 652, £52 10s. to Davis as by Luca Giordano);4 acquired by Henry Fitzalan‐Howard (1847–1917), 15th Duke of Norfolk; recorded (as by Giordano) as hanging in ‘the Prince’s Bedroom’ at Arundel Castle, East Sussex, in 1902;5 bought from Bernard Marmaduke Fitzalan‐Howard (1908–75), 16th Duke of Norfolk, through Oscar Johnson, then of Leggatt Bros, in 1962 as by Le Nain.
Exhibitions
Paris 1978–9 (9); Copenhagen 1992 (6).
Related Work
See p. 210, fig. 5, for a painting of the same subject with some compositional similarities in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.
Technical Notes
In good condition apart from some minor losses. There is some wear in the area of Saint Joseph’s hair and patches of grey ground can be seen near to the ox and to the Christ Child. There is an upper ground of grey over a lower red ground. The ground contains some unidentified gritty material. The support is a moderately fine plain‐weave canvas, last relined soon after the picture’s acquisition in 1962, when it was also cleaned and restored. The painting had previously been lined, cleaned and repaired by W. Dyer & Sons of 7 Mount Street, London W1, in 1904 (or possibly 1907).6 Clearly visible is a major pentimento above the wings of the angel in green (fig. 1). From this it would seem that in an earlier composition the Virgin (?) was kneeling with her head inclined towards the lower right of the composition. The donkey may also once have been lower in the composition, as evidenced by the visible trace of a rein some 7 cm below its position in the finished painting. There is a pentimento at the tip of the right‐hand wing of the angel in green, and others to the outline of the kneeling shepherd, for example at his left heel.
Detail of angel showing pentimento. © The National Gallery, London
Discussion
The subject of NG 6331 is taken from Luke 2:8–20. The inclusion of the ox and the ass derives from the Gospel of Pseudo‐Matthew (ch. XIV) which was purportedly based on the vision of Isaiah and Habakkuk, and had a longer tradition in the visual arts than that of the adoration of the shepherds.7 Unusually, one of the angels and one of the shepherds are shown looking away from the Christ Child as if at some occurrence outside our field of view. It has been suggested that this may be the arrival of the Magi,8 although that story is related in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, not that of Saint Luke; the apprehensive expressions of the shepherd and angel also belie this. Another possibility is that NG 6331 once had a pendant towards which these two figures were ‘looking’.9
NG 6331 was once attributed to Luca Giordano (see Provenance),10 but it is certainly by one of the Le Nain brothers. It may be by the same Le Nain who painted, for example, The Pilgrims of Emmaus (Paris, Louvre) and Bacchus and Ariadne (Orléans, Musée des Beaux‐Arts), as has been suggested by both Cuzin and Rosenberg, who identify the hand as that of Mathieu11 on the assumption that those two paintings are by the same hand as The Painter’s Studio (Poughkeepsie, NY, Vassar College; fig. 2). On the basis of costume this last painting has been dated to after 1648 and so after the deaths of both Louis and Antoine.12 The precise authorship of NG 6331 cannot, however, be confirmed without additional evidence.13
NG 6331 has been dated 1635–40 by Thuillier14 and to the 1630 s by Rosenberg, who also pointed out certain stylistic affinities between it and the paintings of La Hyre.15 Indeed, the architectural elements and mise‐en‐scène of the National Gallery’s painting recall in reverse La Hyre’s Mercury confiding the Infant Bacchus to the Nymphs (St Petersburg, Hermitage Museum; fig. 3), signed and dated 1638.16 This seems to be the likely earliest date for NG 6331, which, however, with its strong geometrical emphasis, has compositional affinities to the Peasant Family (Petworth House, National Trust) which is probably by the same hand and apparently dated 1642.17[page 209] [page 210] A date for NG 6331 of c. 1640 is therefore proposed. Such a date would also fit well with the date of 1641 suggested18 for The Milkmaid’s Family (St Petersburg, Hermitage Museum; fig. 4), in which the ass is very close to that in NG 6331,19 albeit on a smaller scale. A painting in Dublin (fig. 5) inscribed and dated ‘Lenain. F 1644’ also has evident similarities to NG 6331. However, its attribution to the Le Nain has been rightly doubted on the grounds of its quality.20
The Painter’s Studio, after 1648. Oil on canvas, 73 × 89.8 cm. Poughkeepsie, New York, Vassar College. Purchase, Matthew Vassar Fund. © The Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College
Laurent de La Hyre, Mercury confiding Bacchus to the Nymphs, 1638. Oil on canvas, 125 × 153 cm. St Petersburg, Hermitage Museum.
© With permission from The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Scala, Florence
The Milkmaid’s Family, 1641? Oil on canvas, 51 × 59 cm. St Petersburg, Hermitage Museum.
© With permission from The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Scala, Florenc
Attributed to Le Nain, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1644? Oil on canvas, 59 × 67 cm. Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland. © Reproduction courtesy of The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin / licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
General References
Wright 1985b, p. 119; Rosenberg 1993, no. 50.
[page 211]Notes
1. ‘21. The Adoration of the Shepherds. It is but seldom we meet with historical compositions of this master [Le Nain]. The general appearance, however, of this picture is striking and abundantly demonstrates that knowledge of the union of colours and careful imitation of nature, which are peculiar to the Dutch School. The two figures towards the extremities of the picture are painted with great freedom. 41×53 in. [111×143.4 cm].’ This sale and the next have been noted by P. Rosenberg in Rosenberg 1993, p. 110. The prices and purchasers in both cases are those annotated in copies of the catalogue in Christie’s archive.
The title page to the 1771 Strange sale refers to all the paintings in it as ‘collected during a Journey of several Years in ITALY and FRANCE’. It is, therefore, perhaps worth noting lot 92 of an anonymous sale at the hôtel des Americains, Paris, on 21 March 1763, sold for 72 livres: ‘Un tableau représentant l’Adoration des bergers, peint par Le Nain, très beau tableau de ce maître, tant pour la composition que pour l’accord qui y règne, sur toile, moyen tableau dans sa bordure dorée’: see Marie‐Thérèse de Roodenbeke, ‘Précisions nouvelles sur les oeuvres des Le Nain’, BSHAF , Année 1979 (1981), pp. 101–10, at p. 103. (Back to text.)
2. ‘85. The Adoration of the Shepherds’. The annotation of the buyer’s name in Christie’s copy of the catalogue is faint. (Back to text.)
3. The New Oxford Guide: or, Companion through the University… by a Gentleman of Oxford, 6th edn corrected and enlarged, Oxford n.d. (1777?), p. 104: ‘Drawing Room to the Right of the Salon… On the pannel near the window, next the/Salon, is,/The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Luca Giordano.’ There is no reference to the painting in previous editions, nor in, for example, The Beauties of England Displayed, London 1762 (1770 reprint), pp. 212ff. The painting was recorded in the Green Drawing Room at Blenheim in [William Mavor], New Description of Blenheim, 6th edn, Oxford 1803, p. 41, where the room is described as ‘hung with tapestry, representing, in vivid colours, some of the military exploits of John Duke of Marlborough’. Most of the paintings in Mavor’s description hung in the same room as that in which the Giordano hung, according to The New Oxford Guide, so the rooms were presumably one and the same. The Giordano was also recorded in the Green Drawing Room by J.N. Brewer, The Beauties of England and Wales, vol. XII, part II, London 1813, p. 406; The Oxford University and City Guide… to which is added, A Guide to Blenheim and Nuneham, Oxford 1831, p. 200; and W.Hazlitt, Criticisms on Art, London 1843, p. lxxxi. It was recorded in the Bow‐Window Room, over the door leading into the State Bedroom by George Scharf in his Catalogue Raisonné; or a List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace; with Occasional Remarks and Illustrative Notes, London 1862, p. 134, where described as: ‘LUCA GIORDANO. – The Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds. The Virgin and two angels kneel in adoration before the Infant Saviour. The ox looks reverently towards the new‐born child (in early paintings it is always represented kneeling). The ass also is introduced in the right hand corner. /The style of the composition shows that Luca Giordano had been much influenced by earlier representations of the subject.’ If NG 6331 was the painting attributed to Giordano at Blenheim, my suggestion in Copenhagen 1992, p. 102, that it may have been lot 54 of the duc de Chartres sale of 28/29 November 1834 is wrong. (Back to text.)
4. The catalogue description follows that of Scharf (see note 3 above) save with additions of the measurements, 43 × 56 in (109.2 × 142.2 cm). Davis was presumably the dealer Charles Davis, of 147 New Bond Street, London, who acted for the 15th Duke of Norfolk on picture purchases: letter of 7 January 1992 from John Martin Robinson. As John Martin Robinson has kindly informed me (letter of 30 April 1997), Charles Davis’s accounts for 1886 do not survive. It is not therefore possible to determine whether he was bidding on his own behalf or on behalf of the Duke of Norfolk at the Marlborough sale. The date of the Marlborough sale is wrongly given as 1866 in O. Ferrari and G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. L’opera completa, 2 vols, Naples 1992, vol. 1, p. 389. (Back to text.)
5. Arundel Castle Archive, IN 28. Copy list of pictures at Arundel Castle; made by Chas. Davis 1902: ‘335, Adoration of Infant Jesus Divine Infant laid in cradle Blessed Virgin at foot to right Shepherd cow & two figures to left two angels kneeling beside Cradle St. Joseph with hands on Staff behind them Ass standing to right / 432 × 562 / on frame L Giordano.’ The painting also appears in an undated inventory of c. 1900: Arundel Castle Archive, IN 36, Inventory of Pictures at Arundel Castle, p. 7, and in a further undated inventory of c. 1900: Arundel Castle Archive IN 38, Inventory and Valuation for Fire Insurance Purposes of the Pictures, Furniture, Silver, etc. at Arundel Castle [made by W.E. Hurcomb, Auctioneer and Valuer, 170/3 Piccadilly, W.1]. I am grateful to John Martin Robinson and Anne Thackray for these further references. (Back to text.)
6. According to a printed label and an inscription on the back of the stretcher, and to a bill from W. Dyer in the Arundel Castle Archive, MD 1679, dated ‘Xmas 1904’ but which also has the date 1907 on it. (Back to text.)
7. See Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art (trans. J. Seligman), 2 vols, London 1971, vol. 1, pp. 59ff. (Back to text.)
8. NGCIC , p. 372. The suggestion made by me that this shepherd may represent a non‐believer (Copenhagen 1992, p. 105) no longer seems tenable. Although there is no biblical justification for the adoration of the shepherds and Magi to be shown contemporaneously, they sometimes were (Louis Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols, Paris 1955–9, vol. 2, part 2, p. 234). (Back to text.)
9. It is perhaps worth noting that the Le Nains’ The Carrying of the Cross (whereabouts unknown; Rosenberg 1993, no. 83) has approximately similar dimensions to NG 6331. It could fit quite well as a pendant iconographically, but less easily compositionally. (Back to text.)
10. The misattribution may have been made in an attempt to inflate the picture’s value. The Little Card Players (London, Buckingham Palace), which was sold in London in the Walsh Porter sale of 1803 as by Caravaggio for £388 10s. (while a picture attributed to Le Nain in the same sale fetched £15 15s.), could be a parallel case – perhaps with more justification since Christie’s, who conducted the sale, at least believed Le Nain to be ‘a pupil of Mic. Angelo Caravagio, whose manner he imbibed’ (Earl of Bessborough deceased sale, Christie’s, 7 February 1801, lot 59). A more appropriate misattribution would have been to Orazio Gentileschi. For the latter’s influence on the Le Nain, see R. Ward Bissell, Orazio Gentileschi and the Poetic Tradition in Caravaggesque Painting, Philadelphia and London 1981, pp. 76–7. (Back to text.)
11. J‐P. Cuzin, ‘Les frerès Le Nain: la part de Mathieu’, Paragone, XXX, nos 349–51, May 1979, pp. 58–70; idem, ‘Meaux. French painting’, BM , 131, 1989, pp. 587–8 at p.588; Pierre Rosenberg, ‘L’exposition Le Nain: une proposition’, Revue de l’Art, no. 43, 1979, pp. 91–100, and Rosenberg 1993, pp.85ff. (Back to text.)
12. J‐P. Cuzin, ‘A Hypothesis concerning the Le Nain Brothers’, BM , 120, 1978, pp. 875–6. (Back to text.)
13. The picture frame shown in the Vassar College painting is of a bolection type and may well be of the seventeenth century, as Michael Gregory has kindly confirmed in conversation. The bust at lower left looks curiously early nineteenth century, but, as Nicholas Penny has pointed out, such quasi‐antique heads may have existed in the seventeenth century. It is unusual to see paintings of the seventeenth century showing painters working on a picture in its frame. (Back to text.)
14. Paris 1978–9, p. 118. (Back to text.)
15. Rosenberg 1993, p. 86, where the author refers to ‘La troisième décennie’, but presumably means the fourth decade, i.e. the 1630s. (Back to text.)
16. Pierre Rosenberg and Jacques Thuillier, Laurent de La Hyre 1606–1656, exh. cat., Grenoble, Rennes, Bordeaux 1989–90, no. 151. (Back to text.)
17. For the attribution and dating of the Petworth picture, see Rosenberg 1993, no. 64. (Back to text.)
18. Paris 1978–9, p. 200; Rosenberg 1993, no. 63. (Back to text.)
19. As was pointed out by Jacques Thuillier in Paris 1978–9, p. 200. (Back to text.)
20. As acknowledged by Pierre Rosenberg (Rosenberg 1993, no. 68), who, however, proposes it as an autograph work by Mathieu. (Back to text.)
Abbreviations
- BM
- Burlington Magazine, London, 1903–
- BSHAF
- Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de l’Art Français
- NGCIC
- National Gallery Complete Illustrated Catalogue
List of references cited
- Baker and Henry 2001
- Baker, Christopher and Tom Henry, The National Gallery Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
- Beauties of England 1762
- The Beauties of England Displayed, London 1762 (reprint, 1770)
- Ward Bissell 1981
- Ward Bissell, R., Orazio Gentileschi and the Poetic Tradition in Caravaggesque Painting, Philadelphia and London 1981
- Britton 1801–15
- Britton, John, E. Wedlake Brayley, et al., The Beauties of England and Wales, 18 vols, London 1801–15
- Complete Peerage 1910–59
- Doubleday, H.A., Lord Howard de Walden, G.H. White and R.S. Lea, eds, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant, 12 or 13 vols, 2nd edn, London 1910–59
- Cuzin 1978
- Cuzin, J.‐P., ‘A Hypothesis concerning the Le Nain Brothers’, Burlington Magazine, 1978, 120, 875–6
- Cuziin 1979
- Cuzin, J.‐P., ‘Les frères Le Nain: la part de Mathieu’, Paragone, 1979, 349–51, 58–70
- Cuzin 1989
- Cuzin, J.‐P., ‘Meaux. French painting’, Burlington Magazine, 1989, 131, 587–8
- Davies 1946
- Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The French School, London 1946 (revised 2nd edn, London 1957)
- Davies 1957
- Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The French School, 2nd edn, revised, London 1957
- de Roodenbeke 1979
- Roodenbeke, Marie‐Thérèse de, ‘Précisions nouvelles sur les oeuvres des Le Nain’, Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de l’Art Français, 1981, Année 1979, 101–10
- Ferrari and Scavizzi 1992
- Ferrari, Oreste and Giuseppe Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. L’opera completa, 2 vols, Naples 1992
- Hazlitt 1843
- Hazlitt, William, Criticisms on Art and Sketches of the Picture Galleries of England, London 1843
- Mavor 1803
- Mavor, William Fordyce, New Description of Blenheim, the Seat of His Grace the Duke of Marlborough, 6th edn, Oxford 1803
- New Oxford Guide 1777
- Anon., The New Oxford Guide: or, Companion through the University… by a Gentleman of Oxford, 6th edn corrected and enlarged, Oxford n.d. (1777?)
- Oxford University and City Guide 1831
- The Oxford University and City Guide… to which is added, A Guide to Blenheim and Nuneham, Oxford 1831
- Réau 1955–9
- Réau, Louis, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols (vol. 2 in 2 parts, vol. 3 in 3 parts), Paris 1955–9
- Rosenberg 1979
- Rosenberg, P., ‘L’exposition Le Nain: une proposition’, Revue de l’Art, 1979, 43, 91–100
- Rosenberg 1993
- Rosenberg, P., Tout l’oeuvre peint des Le Nain, Paris 1993
- >Rosenberg and Thuillier 1989
- Rosenberg, P. and J. Thuillier, Laurent de La Hyre 1606–1656: l’homme et l’oeuvre (exh. cat. Grenoble, Rennes, Bordeaux 1989–90), 1989
- Scharf 1862
- Scharf, George, Catalogue raisonée, or a List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace; with Occasional Remarks and Illustrative Notes, London 1862
- Schiller 1971–2
- Schiller, G., Iconography of Christian Art, 2 vols, London 1971–2
- Thuillier 1978
- Thuillier, J., Les frères Le Nain (exh. cat. Grand Palais, Paris 1978–9), 1978
- Wine and Koester 1992
- Wine, H. and O. Koester, Fransk Guldalder. Poussin og Claude og maleriet i det 17 århundredes Frankrig (exh. cat. Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, 1992), Copenhagen 1992
- Wright1985b
- Wright, C., Masterpieces of reality: French 17th century painting (exh. cat. Leicester 1985–6), 1985
List of exhibitions cited
- Copenhagen 1992
- Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, Fransk Guldalder. Poussin og Claude og maleriet i det 17. århundredes Frankrig, 1992 (exh. cat.: Wine and Koester 1992)
- Paris 1978–9
- Paris, Grand Palais, Les frères Le Nain, 1978–9 (exh. cat.: Thuillier 1978)
The Organisation of the Catalogue
This is a catalogue of the seventeenth‐century French paintings in the National Gallery. It includes one painting by a Flemish artist (NG 2291 by Jakob Ferdinand Voet) and two which may or may not be French (NG 83 and NG 5448). An explanation of how the terms ‘French’ and ‘seventeenth‐century’ are here used, are given in the Preface.
The artists are catalogued in alphabetical order. Under each artist, autograph works come first, followed by works in which I believe the studio played a part, then those which are entirely studio productions or later copies. Where there is more than one work by an artist, they are arranged in order of acquisition – that is, in accordance with their inventory numbers.
Each entry is arranged as follows:
TITLE: I have adopted the traditional title of each painting, except where it might be misleading to do so.
DATE: Where a work is inscribed with its date, the date is recorded immediately after the note of media and measurements, together with any other inscriptions. Otherwise, the date is given immediately below the title; an explanation for the choice of date is provided in the body of the catalogue entry.
MEDIA AND MEASUREMENTS: All the paintings have been physically examined and measured by Paul Ackroyd (or in the case of NG 165 by Larry Keith) and myself. Height precedes width. Measurements are of the painted surface (ignoring insignificant variations). Additional information on media and measurements, where appropriate, is provided in the Technical Notes.
SIGNATURE AND DATE: The information derives from the observations of Paul Ackroyd, Larry Keith and myself during the course of examining the paintings. The use of square brackets indicates letters or numerals that are not visible but may reasonably be assumed once to have been so.
Provenance: I have provided the birth and death dates, places of residence and occupations of earlier owners where these are readily available, for example in The Dictionary of National Biography, La Dictionnaire de biographie française, The Complete Peerage and Who was Who. Since I have generally not acknowledged my debt to these publications in individual notes, I am pleased to do so here. In some cases basic information about former owners is amplified in the notes.
Exhibitions: Although they are not strictly exhibitions, long‐term loans to other collections have been included under this heading (but do not appear in the List of Exhibitions forming part of the bibliographical references at the back of the catalogue). Exhibitions are listed in date order. A number in parentheses following reference to an exhibition is that assigned to the painting in the catalogue of the exhibition.
Related Works: Dimensions have been given for paintings, where known, and these works may be assumed to be oil on canvas unless otherwise indicated. I have not given dimensions or media for drawings and prints, except for those that are illustrated, where these details are given in the caption.
Technical Notes: These derive from examination of the paintings by, and my discussions with, Martin Wyld, Head of Conservation, and Paul Ackroyd and Larry Keith of the Conservation Department; from investigation of the paintings by Ashok Roy, Head of the Scientific Department, and his colleagues Raymond White and Marika Spring; and from the publications and articles (mainly in various issues of the National Gallery Technical Bulletin) referred to in the relevant notes.
In the discussion of each painting I have tried to take account of information and opinions that were in the public domain before the end of 2000. Exceptionally, because I knew in advance that Poussin’s Annunciation (NG 5472) would be lent to an exhibition held at the Louvre, Paris, early in 2001, I have mentioned, albeit in a note and without discussion, Marc Fumaroli’s suggestion in the exhibition catalogue concerning the picture’s original function. Except where otherwise indicated, translations are my own and biblical quotations are from the Authorised Version (King James Bible).
General References: In the case of pictures acquired by 1957, I have included a reference to Martin Davies’s French School catalogue of that year; I have referred to his 1946 catalogue only when there was some material development in his views between the two dates. In the case of subsequently acquired paintings, I have referred to the interim catalogue entry published in the relevant National Gallery Report. In addition, General References include relevant catalogues of pictures (not necessarily catalogues raisonnés), but not other material.
List of Publications Cited: This includes only publications referred to more than once.
List of Exhibitions: This is a list both of exhibitions in which the paintings here catalogued have appeared and of exhibition catalogues cited in the notes. The list is in date order.
About this version
Version 1, generated from files HW_2001__16.xml dated 07/03/2025 and database__16.xml dated 09/03/2025 using stylesheet 16_teiToHtml_externalDb.xsl dated 03/01/2025. Structural mark-up applied to skeleton document in full; document updated to use external database of archival and bibliographic references; entries for NG30, NG61, NG62, NG1449, NG2967, NG4919, NG5597, NG5763, NG6331, NG6471, NG6477 and NG6513 prepared for publication.
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- Wine, Humphrey (2001) NG 6331, Adoration of the Shepherds. Online version 1, London: National Gallery, 2025. Available at: https://data.ng.ac.uk/0E9S-000B-0000-0000 (Accessed: 19 March 2025).
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