Description
The Adoration of the Shepherds is a painting by Caravaggio from 1609, made for the Capuchin friars’ church in Messina, Sicily: in a bare, dark stable the Virgin Mary, in a red dress, lies on the straw holding the Child close, while Joseph and three shepherds lean towards her from the right, one with his hands clasped. The original, oil on canvas, is 314 cm high and 211 cm wide and is kept in the Regional Museum of Messina. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas in 6 portrait sizes, from 90 x 130 to 160 x 230 cm, or to a size you choose, and before it ships we send you a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | The Adoration of the Shepherds |
| Other titles: | Adorazione dei pastori · Die Anbetung der Hirten |
| Painter: | Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) |
| Year painted: | 1609 |
| Original size: | 314 cm x 211 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Baroque, tenebrism |
| Located at: | Regional Museum (Museo Regionale), Messina |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 6 sizes or made to measure |
The Adoration of the Shepherds – Caravaggio
What does The Adoration of the Shepherds show?
The scene takes place in an empty, gloomy stable. At the lower left Mary lies on the ground in a bright red dress, holding the Child tightly to her.
From the right four men bend towards mother and child: Joseph, marked out only by a faint halo, and three barefoot shepherds in plain clothes. One of them has his hands clasped, and over the arm of the shepherd nearest to Mary, Wikipedia notes, falls a piece of cloth in the same red as her dress.
Above the group an ox and a donkey can just be made out in the dark. In the foreground stand a basket and some tools, which Wikipedia suggests belong to Joseph the carpenter, beside a roughly baked loaf of bread. The colours are muted, earthy browns; the only strong colour on the whole canvas is Mary’s red.
What story does the painting tell?
In the gospel it is the shepherds, plain working people from the fields, who are the first to come and greet the newborn child. Caravaggio paints them as men of his own time: barefoot, in worn clothes, with calloused hands.
Wikipedia names humility as the central theme. Mary does not sit enthroned as a queen of heaven; she sits on the ground like a young mother from a poor family.
At around the same time he painted a second birth scene, the Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence, which was stolen in 1969 and has never been found.
Why is the painting so special?
Because it gives up everything his contemporaries expected from such a scene. There are no angels in the sky and no golden glow announcing a miracle; Wikipedia writes that the space is lit by one small light source, as if a single candle were burning in the stable.
Because the figures are not arranged symmetrically around the centre, as the Renaissance masters would have done, but along an imagined diagonal.
And because it was bold. According to Wikipedia, many accused Caravaggio of vulgarity for painting biblical figures as ordinary peasants, while the Capuchins were among the few patrons who liked this unvarnished realism. More on how it was made and composed is in the English Wikipedia article.
Where is the original of The Adoration of the Shepherds?
In Messina, Sicily, in the Regional Museum. The Capuchins commissioned it for their church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in the same city, and Caravaggio completed it in 1609.
That was a year before his death in 1610, which places it among his last great works.
The Adoration of the Shepherds or another Caravaggio?
The Adoration of the Shepherds is a calm, warm canvas painting for a tall wall in a living area or above a staircase. If you are looking for another large altar scene with the Virgin and Child, see The Madonna of the Rosary, where Saint Dominic holds out rosaries to a crowd of barefoot poor.
A year earlier, also in Sicily, Caravaggio painted The Burial of Saint Lucy, which is built in a similar way: the people stand along the bottom of the canvas and a bare wall rises above them. For a graver, sadder scene from the life of Christ there is The Entombment of Christ.
Every one of the famous Caravaggio paintings we paint to order is listed on our Caravaggio page.
How does our painter paint your Adoration of the Shepherds?
Each Adoration of the Shepherds is painted to order, in oil on canvas, one layer after another. The painter begins with the dark ground of the stable and the placing of the five heads; only then does the light come in.
Next comes Mary’s red dress, which has to glow without jumping out of its surroundings, then the shepherds’ faces, their cracked hands and bare feet.
A Caravaggio reproduction painted by hand keeps the trace of the brush on the dress and the faces, and the dark stable gains depth from several layers of paint. A print cannot give you that, which is why an oil painting reproduction with such a dark ground shows a new face in evening light: the red flares up and the shepherds slowly step out of the shadow.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 90 x 130 or 98 x 152 cm for a hallway or a narrow wall beside a window, 113 x 165 or 127 x 185 cm above a sofa, a chest of drawers or a bed, and 140 x 210 or 160 x 230 cm for a tall living-area wall, a staircase or a chapel.
We paint the Adoration in 6 portrait sizes (width x height): 90 x 130, 98 x 152, 113 x 165, 127 x 185, 140 x 210 and 160 x 230 cm. The closest to the original is the largest, 160 x 230 cm, and even that is 51 cm narrower and 84 cm shorter; the original’s proportions are matched most closely by 140 x 210 cm.
As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 127 x 185 cm works well, because Mary and the shepherds in the lower half then sit roughly at the eye level of someone seated. For a bedroom we suggest 113 x 165 cm above the bed, with the bottom edge 25 to 35 cm above the headboard.
Is another size or a frame possible?
Yes. There is a lot of dark space above the figures, so the composition can be adapted to a different portrait format without Mary or the shepherds losing anything essential. Tell us which width and height you would like and we will come back with a price and a date.
We send the Adoration rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed, and the stretching and framing are done by our workshop in Slovenia. The frame is picked in our 3D app, built for choosing frames alone; a view of the Adoration on your own wall is a separate service.
When and how will your painting arrive?
We start painting as soon as the order arrives, and in 15 to 45 working days the painting is ready to go. Before that we send you a photograph of the finished work and, if you wish, adjust details. There are no customs within the EU, Slovenia included, and our returns policy applies to every order.
The Adoration of the Shepherds is a lovely Christmas gift for a family, a parish or anyone who loves a quiet, simple image of the birth of Jesus. If you want it under the tree, order in good time, since making it takes up to 45 working days. If the recipient should pick the size, give a wall art voucher.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original today?
In the Regional Museum of Messina, in Sicily.
Who are the figures in the painting?
Mary with the Child, Joseph with a barely visible halo and three shepherds; above them in the shadow, an ox and a donkey.
Is it a print or a photo on canvas?
No. Our painter makes each Adoration with a brush and oil paints, so you receive a hand-painted copy, not a print.
How big is the original?
It is 314 cm high and 211 cm wide; our largest size, 160 x 230 cm, is smaller.
What does the painting mean?
According to Wikipedia, humility: Mary sits on the ground as a simple young mother, not as a queen of heaven.
Is it suitable for a bedroom?
Yes. The scene is calm, free of violence and warm in colour, so it suits a wall above a bed or a child’s room.
Can you paint it in a size not listed here?
Yes. Send us the width and height you need and we will quote a price and a delivery time.
How long do making and delivery take?
We need 15 to 45 working days, and you get a photograph of the finished painting before it is sent.
- Subject: Mary in a red dress lies with the Child on the straw, Joseph and three shepherds lean towards her, and an ox and a donkey stand in the shadow above.
- Original: 1609, oil on canvas, 314 x 211 cm, Regional Museum, Messina.
- Ours: your Adoration of the Shepherds, painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 6 portrait sizes from 90 x 130 to 160 x 230 cm or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: the Capuchins commissioned it for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Messina, one year before Caravaggio died.
