Adoration of the Shepherds
1622 · Oil on canvas · Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne
The whole painting, uncropped, on a printed cream mat with its title beneath.
Museum-quality archival paper: heavyweight, acid-free, resists yellowing
- Printed to order, arrives in 4–9 business days
- Arrives perfect or we reprint it, free
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About this work
- Artist
- Gerard van Honthorst (1592–1656)
- Year
- 1622
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 164 × 190 cm
- Collection
- Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne
- Movement
- Baroque
Mary lifts a white cloth to show the sleeping Christ Child on a bed of straw, and the light seems to come from the baby himself. It falls on her face and pink dress, on Joseph in a yellow cloak at the right, and on the ox beside him. Three shepherds crowd in from the left: an old man with clasped hands, a young one in a straw hat, and a bearded man in red raising his hand. A small coat of arms sits at the lower right. Gerard van Honthorst painted it in 1622, two years after he returned to Utrecht from Rome, where his candlelit night scenes earned him the name Gherardo delle Notti. It is signed and dated on the canvas. The painting has been in Cologne since 1855 and hangs in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Warm, lamp-like light on blue, pink and yellow robes against a near-black ground. A strong piece for a dining room or above the mantel through the holiday season, beside Caravaggio's The Supper at Emmaus; a black frame deepens the dark.
Size, framing & materials
- Style
- Baroque painting
- Era
- 17th century (1622)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- dining room, living room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed. See it to scale on your wall →
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; dark wood warms it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
- Restored in-house from the original painting, cleaned and colour-trued at museum resolution
- Museum-quality archival paper: heavyweight, acid-free, resists yellowing
- Framed option: wood frame in black or dark wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size
- Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen
