L'Adoration des bergers

Bartolo di Fredi's Adoration of the Shepherds, now in the Musee du Petit Palais, demonstrates the Sienese master's gift for lively narrative and rich descriptive detail. The subject gained increasing prominence in fourteenth-century devotional art as Franciscan spirituality emphasized the humanity of Christ's birth. Bartolo was among the most prolific painters in late Trecento Siena, and his vivid, accessible narrative style made his work popular with patrons across Tuscany.

Egg tempera on gold-ground panel with the warm, saturated palette characteristic of Sienese painting. Bartolo's composition arranges the figures in a dynamic narrative grouping, with the shepherds approaching the manger in attitudes of wonder, rendered with expressive gestures and carefully observed detail.