THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS - A PAINTING FOR CHRISTMAS - 2017

Well its been a while since my last post and for that I apologize. Work, travels and the prospect of moving house here in England have stopped me from settling down to what I should have been concentrating on and now it's almost Christmas again. Where does the time go? Next week we will be travelling to Italy to spend Christmas and New Year at our place near Castiglione del Lago in Umbria, so our beloved Italy is firmly back in the frame.

I see Christmas time as a period for reflection these days and now that Jon and I are getting old I find myself looking back over my life to Christmases past. Though I'm not a regular church goer my Christian values still always bring me back to the story of the nativity and one memory which returns every Christmas is the image in my mind of my stage debut when, aged 6, I took the role of a shepherd in my school nativity play! As if it were yesterday I can see myself dressed in a brown tunic made from an old wool blanket tied with a piece of string at the waist. A long wooden stick curled at the end acted as a makeshift crook. I had no words to say but the event sticks in my mind as something special, as I am sure other similar stories do for others. What better choice of painting then than a depiction of the shepherds visiting the stable in Bethlehem to worship the new born baby Jesus?

Throughout the history of western art painters have depicted the story of the "Adoration of the Shepherds" presumably because it was a popular choice of subject with church patrons. Notable artists to have depicted the subject are Giotto, Corregio, Giorgione, El Greco, Mantegna, Poussin and Rembrandt to name but a few. I haven't gone for any of these but chosen one from the art gallery in Perugia, the city just down the road from our place in Castiglione del Lago.

The Galleria Nazionale dell' Umbria is housed in the  Palazzo del Priori close to the main square and its fantastic. It beautifully displays over 3000 works of art in 40 rooms and the collection ranges from panel paintings inspired by Byzantine art to Renaissance masterpieces by the like of Umbrian born Perugino. My chosen picture is from this collection and is shown below. 

"Adoration of the Shepherds" c1575 - Marcello Venusti (c1512-1575)
Galleria Nazionale dell' Umbria, Perugia.

I've seen this picture several times but didn't know much about the artist so I thought it was time to do a bit of research and the findings turned out to be interesting. Venusti came from Como and not a lot seems to be known of his early life other that that he was a pupil of painter Perino del Vaga in Rome in the 1540's. He seems to be best known for being commissioned in 1548 by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to make a copy in oils of Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. This is now in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples and in recent times it served as the best record available of what the fresco actually looked like when it was newly done and before many of the nude figures had draperies added in the 1560's. The copy was made during Michelangelo's lifetime and it would seem the master approved of Venusti's work. The work secured the painter's reputation and he and Michelangelo also became good friends collaborating in a number of ways. The Master allowed Venusti to execute numerous small paintings of religious subjects related to his designs and its also known that the artist added settings to some of Michelangelo's figure studies. In my chosen painting the shepherd standing on the right of the composition has a twisted pose surely based on similar figures in some of Michelangelo's works. The slightly unbalanced composition, the unrealistic kneeling position of the shepherd with the green tunic on the right, the wine gum colours of the clothing of many of the figures and the long fingered elegant hands of Mary and even that of the bearded shepherd on the left are all reminiscent of a sophisticated style of painting which emerged in Italy after 1520 called Mannerism - a precursor of the Baroque which would develop towards the end of the century. 

Overall Venusti produced a composition for this painting which is a fairly traditional rendering of the subject. The scene is set in the interior of a windowed stable with a landscape visible in the background.The baby Jesus lies in a crib with Mary and Joseph looking on. They are surrounded by shepherds, two on the right and three on the left and there are two donkeys in the right hand side background and a lamb in the foreground close to the picture plane. Above, in a cloud, a host of angels carry a convoluted banner bearing an inscription. There are some lovely details visible in the picture. Notice the standing bearded shepherd on the left carries a lidded pail, he has a large hole in his hose and between his legs we can see his two sheep dogs. The lamb in the foreground is the traditional gift of a shepherd but is also rich in symbolism - a reminder of Christ's sacrifice as the Lamb of God. 

The story of the Adoration of the Shepherds is told in the New Testament in the gospel according to St Luke, Chapter 2, verses 13-14. The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds whilst they tended their flocks and announced the birth of Christ in the Bethlehem stable nearby. The story continues with "and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying - Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will to all men". I find it charming that Venusti has chosen to represent this text in the picture through the already mentioned banner held by the angels above. It's in latin of course. 

This ever popular Christian story is one of hope and joy - immortalised in the hymn I'm just humming in my head "Whilst shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground ....." and I could have imagined it appearing on the front of a Christmas card years ago - but not today. As society becomes ever more secular and the commercialisation of Christmas becomes more rampant and force fed to us through every medium you can think of - I have enjoyed taking another look as this traditional 16th century painting - I feel better for it!!

I hope to be back again soon - but Seasons Greetings and Happy Christmas anyway !!

THERE ARE OVER 90 POSTS IN THIS BLOG WRITTEN OVER SEVERAL YEARS SO I HOPE YOU WILL LOOK AT MORE OF THEM OR EVEN CONSIDER BEING A FOLLOWER AND THUS HELPING ME KEEP MY BLOG ALIVE. CHEERS - IAN 

Ian