
The painting I chose was “The Adoration of the Shepherds”, illustrated by Mattia Preti. The painting was drawn in the 1600’s and displays many different people centered around, what looks like a new born baby. Mattia Preti was an Italian artist who was born in a small town named Taverna in Italy, where he created most of his artwork. The painting contains mostly males and only two females. There are numerous shepherds surrounding the newborn infant as it is asleep. The child is the main subject of this painting and is the brightest part of the painting. Although Baby Jesus is clearly the main focus, Mary also stands out, as they are both in the brightest part of the painting. There is a yellow gleaming light around the baby which clearly points out he is the main purpose of this painting. Every single person in this painting has their full attention on Baby Jesus and seems to be paying their respects to him. The painting gets darker and darker as you move away from the child. I’m assuming this picture is Baby Jesus being born in Bethlehem on a hay stack. The woman, Mary, directly behind the baby is the mother and she is seen caring for her child and taking care of him by covering the child with the blanket. Jesus appears to be a new born because his eyes are still closed and he is silently resting on the hay stack. It can be interpreted as some type of celebration because of the two men in the top left corner seem to be playing the flute or some type of bag pipe to provide a musical celebration for the birth of baby Jesus. The shepherd on the far left, which I assume was the last to arrive, leans forward and removes his hat, to pay his respects to the new born baby Jesus. At the top right, in the dark you can see an angel flying watching upon the child, watching over him. It contains a couple of animals such as a mule and one of the shepherd’s sheep. That lets us know that Jesus was born in this small, crowded stable full of animals. Although it may be hard to see, there are four figures in the background bearing gifts to celebrate the birth. The man to the right of the child is kneeling down showing devotion and praying to God. 

This painting is certainly a religious piece of art because it contains The Holy Family, Mary and Joseph as they look upon their newborn child. The angel in the top right can also prove that this painting displays religion. The Christian themed painting depicts the shepherds paying homage to Baby Jesus Christ.  We know that the baby that is being mainly depicted in this illustration is baby Jesus. Preti painting has created a dramatic atmosphere through the use of the lighting and the role of all the different people. It seems like the people in the bright part of the painting may be more important than the people in the background, where it starts to get darker. This painting describes the Gospel of St. Luke in chapter two, verses 15-17. “When the angels went away from them into Heaven, the shepherds said to one another ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us’ and they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” The setting of this illustration takes place in a barn or some type of stable and this can be inferred by the donkey seen in the background. This is a very compact painting, with about eleven or so people in this small stable. Also another reason why you know this painting is in a barn is because baby Jesus 

is laying on a haystack. There seems to be a great deal of hastiness in this art because the painting is crowded in a small, dark barn and everyone is surrounding the young baby. This is not just your ordinary birth of a baby, this is the birth of Christ and that is why Preti has made the baby the center of the painting. Preti creates a sense of importance through the color and lighting in his work. The people that are easily visible and seen in the painting seem to be more important than the ones in the dark background. You can see the adoration on the shepherds faces while they witness baby Jesus. Preti’s choice of the title, “Adoration of the Shepherds”, clearly fits well because they are all showing deep love and respect to the newborn Jesus. The mother, Mary, is directly behind Jesus caring for him, while Joseph is in the background holding onto the mule. The painting gets darker behind Mary, so I feel as she is the most important person in the painting, obviously other than Jesus. I feel like Preti made Joseph in the background darker than Virgin Mary because Joseph was not in correlation of conceiving baby Jesus. 

Everyone in the painting has their full focus on Christ no matter what role they play in the painting. This is a dramatic painting and is a celebration of Christ’s birth. This isn’t your average birth of a baby considering there are so many people deeply focused and fascinated to see Jesus. Angels flying above the Jesus and the two men playing music clearly depicts a celebration. The painting is very detailed with many different aspects to focus on. Everyone in the painting is focused on Jesus, whether they are performing music or just simply watching over him praying. Preti’s painting is very creative and I thought he did an outstanding job on making Jesus the main focus of the painting.           
