The Adoration of the Shepherds

Executed on copper around 1600 and now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, this Adoration of the Shepherds by Hans von Aachen belongs to the intimate, jewel-like tradition of Rudolfine court painting on copper. The Nativity subject — humble shepherds paying homage to the newborn Christ — was a perennial devotional theme that gained new intensity in Counter-Reformation Catholic piety, which emphasized the humanity of Christ and the accessibility of the divine to the common believer. Von Aachen's copper support allows for the characteristic luminosity of Rudolfine small-format work: the stable's interior darkness punctuated by the miraculous light emanating from the Christ child. The multiple shepherd figures, the Virgin and Joseph, and the animals create a complex compositional narrative in a small format.

Copper support gives the nocturnal scene its characteristic luminous quality: the light from the Christ child reflected across the faces of the assembled figures glows with an enamel-like brilliance impossible on canvas. Von Aachen organizes the radial composition around the light source of the infant, using the encircling darkness to direct attention inward. Shepherds' rougher features contrast with the idealized Holy Family.