The Adoration of the Shepherds
c. 1527
Medium
etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Fund
Accession Number
1976.39.4
Art Historical Context
In the intimate glow of *The Adoration of the Shepherd*, created around 1527 by the Italian Mannerist master Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola), visitors witness a tender biblical scene from the Nativity. Shepherds humbly gather around the Christ Child, Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph in a moment of divine revelation, capturing the humility and wonder of the Gospel story. Parmigianino, known for his graceful, elongated figures and refined elegance, infuses the composition with the sophisticated stylization of Mannerism—a High Renaissance offshoot that emphasized artifice and beauty over naturalism. ...
About the Artist
Parmigianino · 1503–1540
Parmigianino (1503–1540), born Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, was an Italian painter and printmaker who became one of the most influential figures of the first generation of Mannerist artists. Orphaned before his second birthday, he was raised by his painter uncles in Parma and showed extraordinary precocity, completing a major altarpiece by age eighteen. His elegant, sophisticated style—charac...