The Angel appearing to the Shepherds

The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds from 1765 was painted while de Loutherbourg was still working in Paris, two years before his move to London. The Nativity annunciation offered him the dramatic contrast between heavenly light and earthly darkness that he would later exploit in his theatrical work and his famous Eidophusikon—a mechanical theater of light and sound. Philip James de Loutherbourg, born in Alsace and trained in Paris before settling in England, was the most theatrically gifted landscape painter of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His Eidophusikon demonstrated his interest in effects of light and atmosphere. He introduced the Continental Romantic tradition of the dramatic landscape into the English context, combining precise observation with theatrical organization of light and atmosphere.

Supernatural radiance bursts across the night sky, illuminating the terrified shepherds in a composition that demonstrates de Loutherbourg's mastery of dramatic lighting effects and nocturnal atmosphere.