Aanbidding der herders

Aanbidding der herders (Adoration of the Shepherds), dated 1643 and held by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, depicts the Gospel of Luke's account of shepherds who arrive at the Nativity manger following the angelic announcement. The Adoration of the Shepherds was among the most painted subjects in Counter-Reformation altarpiece production, favoured for its social inclusiveness — the first witnesses to the Incarnation are humble pastoral workers rather than kings or priests — and for its pictorial opportunity of strong chiaroscuro: the divine light emanating from the Christ Child illuminating a nocturnal stable scene. De Crayer's 1643 version participates in the Caravagesque tradition of Nativity nocturnes that had transformed the subject in the early seventeenth century. The Royal Museums hold one of the most significant collections of Flemish Baroque devotional painting in existence, much of it deriving from ecclesiastical sources.

Oil on canvas. The nocturnal Nativity with light from the Christ Child is a technically demanding subject: the entire composition must be lit from a single small source at the centre, creating graduated circles of illumination that diminish toward the edges. De Crayer follows the Flemish adaptation of Caravagesque tenebrism — less harsh in contrast than the Italian source, warmer in the shadows. Shepherd faces illuminated from below reverse the conventional portrait lighting and create the awestruck expressions appropriate to the scene.