The Adoration of the Shepherds

Van Mander situated the scene with The Adoration of the Shepherds (Luke 2:8-18) into antique-style ruins which indicate that a study for this composition began during the artist’s stay in Italy, especially in Rome (1573-1577). A print that survived reproduces Mander’s lost template of 1588 with the same topic. Another Adoration of the Shepherds scene, engraved by Jan Saenredam based on Mander, is rendered as a nearly genre scene. The Prague specimen shows the closest analogies with The Adoration of the Shepherds in Hartford (The Wadsworth Atheneum), both through its mannerist architectural coulisses and the rendering of several figures, for example the shepherd with a long white beard standing to the left behind Mary. It is typical of Mander that all the surviving scenes featuring The Adoration of the Shepherds are set in antique-style architecture. The Adoration of Prague dates from 1596; it was made during Van Mander’s sojourn in Haarlem where he was in close touch with other mannerists such as Hendrick Goltzius and Cornelis van Haarlem. Marginally, yet another little detail should be mentioned: a fingerprint is visible at the bottom right which was done on a wet painting. It may be hypothetically assumed that it is Van Mander’s (intentional?) “signature”.