Adoration of the Shepherds

Adoration of the Shepherds, painted around 1480 and now in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity in Florence, represents Ghirlandaio's mature Florentine workshop at its most confidently devotional. The Adoration of the Shepherds was a subject that grew increasingly popular through the fifteenth century as the emphasis on human witnesses to the Nativity—the humble shepherds rather than the regal Magi—gained theological resonance in reform-minded religious circles. Ghirlandaio's version demonstrates his capacity for elegant compositional organisation and his skill in portraying the patrons and donors who often appeared in the guise of shepherds or worshippers.

Ghirlandaio organises the adoration with the newborn Christ at the compositional centre, the shepherds approaching from one direction and the Holy Family arranged around him. His characteristically clear spatial organisation and bright tempera or oil colours give the scene a joyful, accessible character appropriate to a public devotional context.