Adoration of the Shepherds
17th century
Medium
Etching; second state
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/8 × 3 3/8 in. (10.4 × 8.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Dr. Franz H. Hirschland
Accession Number
47.96.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jan Lievens' *Adoration of the Shepherd*, a delicate 17th-century etching the Dutch Golden Age, captures a pivotal biblical moment from the Nativity story: humble shepherds revering the newborn Christ child, Mary, and Joseph. Created around the 1630s, this intimate print reflects Lievens' close ties to Rembrandt, his contemporary and friend, sharing the dramatic chiaroscuro and emotional depth of Baroque art. Lievens, a prodigious Leiden-born talent, masterfully conveyed spirituality through everyday figures, making sacred scenes feel profoundly human. As a second-state etching—meaning a refi...
About the Artist
Jan Lievens · 1607–1674
Jan Lievens (1607–1674) was born in Leiden and showed exceptional artistic promise from an early age, beginning his training with the local painter Joris van Schooten before traveling to Amsterdam around 1617 to study for two years under Pieter Lastman—the same teacher who would later instruct Rembrandt van Rijn. Lievens and Rembrandt, near-contemporaries born in the same city, subsequently shared...