‘The Adoration of the Shepherds’: Caravaggio’s Realistic Imaginings

A detail from "The Adoration of the Shepherds," circa 1609, by Caravaggio. Public Domain)

One year before his death in 1610, Caravaggio completed the last of his great life-size paintings—a 10-by-7-foot canvas of Christ’s birth. Painted for the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and of the Martyrs in Rome, Italy, “The Adoration of the Shepherds” features Caravaggio’s typical combination of exquisite beauty and thorough realism. In his works, he chose to emphasize humility and naturalism, aspects often ignored by former artists.

Many artists before Caravaggio employed stylized symbolism in their depictions of the Nativity in order to stress the extraordinary part of Christ’s birth: The baby is divine, the son of God. Christ was commonly depicted in one of three familiar positions: laid in the manger, held aloft, or set on a cloth on the ground. The Virgin Mary was often shown in a prayerful posture. St. Joseph tended to be represented in prayer, too, though he was sometimes watchful.

Caravaggio emphasized the other side of the Nativity story: The baby Jesus is also human. By becoming man, God joined human beings in all the ordinary, unremarkable, and even bland realities of everyday life. Caravaggio stressed the real poverty and commonplace aspects of the Nativity scene, rather than Christ’s hidden divinity.

"The Adoration of the Shepherds," circa 1609, by Caravaggio. Oil on canvas; 10 feet 3 3/5 inches by 6 feet, 11 inches. Regional Museum of Messina, Sicily. Public Domain

In “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” Mary’s right side leans against the manger while she reclines on the ground. Both her posture and the manner in which she holds the infant Jesus suggests she is resting, as any mother of a newborn might do. The manger is not the iconic free-standing, baby-sized object in the middle of the stable. Instead, it’s more realistically fixed to a wall, where it is conveniently out of the way and large enough to be shared by two or three animals. Next to it, at the front left, is a workbasket and tools.

Relationships between the figures are also unusual. Instead of displaying her child to the shepherds on her left, Mary continues to hold Jesus in her arms. While nothing suggests she is ignoring them, it’s clear that her focus is elsewhere.

A detail of Mary from "The Adoration of the Shepherds," circa 1609, by Caravaggio.

The Franciscans’ Nativity Scene

Artistic depictions of the Nativity originated in the 1st century. Now displayed at Christmas, Nativity sets owe much of their popularity to St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Order of Friars Minor (colloquially known as the Franciscans). In his day, Italy’s religious art had much in common with Byzantine icons, which focused on symbolism rather than accurate representation.

Iconographers minimized the individuality of the subject’s facial features while emphasizing the symbols of the subject’s virtues and ordination. When depicting biblical scenes, artists tried to symbolize God’s actions rather than make the scene relatable to viewers.

Francis favored realistic images of religious figures and events. After visiting Bethlehem and Jerusalem from 1219 to 1220, he decided to create a living Nativity in 1223 using live animals and people dressed in character as biblical figures. The living Nativity scenes and realistic artistic depictions of Christ’s birth soon gained immense popularity and contributed to an increased interest in realism in both religious and secular art.

The Church’s status as the leading patron of the arts and the pervasive influence of the Franciscans throughout the 13th century may even have influenced Giotto’s embrace of naturalistic painting. Giotto was born 40 years after Francis died. Art historian Giorgio Vasari considered Giotto’s work to be a stepping stone on the path to early Renaissance art.

“St. Francis of Assisi Preparing the Christmas Crib at Grecchio,” 1297–1300, by Giotto. Fresco. Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy. Public Domain

It wasn’t until the late 15th century and early 16th century that High Renaissance geniuses fully perfected the techniques needed for successful naturalistic art—though even then, they often continued to synthesize realism with classicist idealization and symbolism. In the four decades before Caravaggio’s birth, the Council of Trent (1545 to 1563) and the religious orders that reformed Catholic practices—the first Franciscan order of Capuchins prominent among them—strongly endorsed highly naturalistic painting as the best aid to religious devotion. Caravaggio’s career began in Milan, Italy, just as the city’s archbishop, St. Charles Borromeo, was implementing this vision in his patronage.  

Caravaggio was the first of the great masters to embrace realism—though predecessors such as Titian helped facilitate the art movement. Appropriately enough, one of Caravaggio’s first major religious paintings was “Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy.” Later, he went on to create life-size works with many figures, including “Conversion of Saint Paul” and “Death of the Virgin Mary.”

“The Adoration of the Shepherds” brought Caravaggio’s work on that scale to a fitting close, giving the viewer a unique glimpse into the scene in a way no other painter ever has.

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