El Greco
The
Adoration of the Shepherds
Spain, circa 1610
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York
City
As with so many Nativities after the
14th century, the artist uses light to express the divinity of the
child. But here the light bursts brilliantly from the baby,
sending the visitors into amazement and ecstasy.
It is common for Nativities to allude to the Eucharist, but in this
case the allusions do so by referring to the Passion and to Christ's
sacrificial death on the cross. Thus, the artist repeats the
bright white color of the child in the trussed lamb in the lower left,
identifying the child thereby as the sacrificial lamb who "takes away
the sins of the world."
Furthermore, the swaddling cloth on which the baby lies may also be a
reference to the cloth of Veronica, an element in the traditional
Passion narrative. Notice how Mary seems to be holding the
swaddling cloth up as if for inspection, holding the corners with just
two fingers of each hand (see detail).
This is typical of the way the cloth is held up to the viewer in
Veronica images: see the Veronica page,
especially images by the Master
of St. Veronica, Hans
Memling, and El Greco
himself.
More of the Nativity
Photographed at the
museum by Richard Stracke