The Adoration of the Shepherds

Pietro da Cortona's Adoration of the Shepherds from around 1633 represents this Roman Baroque painter's grand manner applied to a devotional subject, the rich coloring and dynamic composition characteristic of his mature style. Cortona was one of the most important figures in the development of Roman High Baroque painting and architecture — his ceiling fresco in the Palazzo Barberini is among the defining monuments of the style — and his altarpieces and devotional canvases brought the same energy and grandeur to smaller-scale sacred subjects. The shepherds crowd the scene with the same overwhelming vitality that characterizes his ceiling frescoes, the angels multiplied in a heavenly apparition of golden light that dissolves the distinction between earthly and divine. The painting demonstrates his mastery of the large, complex compositional machine required by ambitious Baroque decorative programs.

Cortona's dynamic composition and rich, warm palette create a scene of energetic devotion, with the shepherds crowding around the Christ Child in attitudes of wonder and adoration. The bold brushwork and dramatic lighting reflect the full-blooded Baroque manner that distinguished Cortona from the more restrained classicism of his rivals.