L'Adoration des bergers

Taddeo Gaddi, Giotto's most devoted pupil and longtime assistant, painted this Adoration of the Shepherds around 1327 during his formative years in the Florentine workshop tradition. The scene reflects the growing Franciscan emphasis on the humble, human circumstances of Christ's birth, a theme central to Gothic devotional art in Tuscany. Now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, it documents the early spread of the Giottesque revolution beyond Florence.

Executed in tempera and gold ground on panel, the composition shows Gaddi absorbing Giotto's volumetric modeling while retaining the decorative linearity of the Gothic tradition. The figures occupy a shallow but convincing pictorial space with careful attention to drapery folds.