Adoration of the Shepherds (Le Nain)
The Adoration of the Shepherds by the Le Nain Brothers is in the National Gallery in London. The painting dates from about 1640, and is relatively unusual as a religious subject or history painting in their oeuvre; they are best known for genre painting, especially groups of peasants. As with most of the works of Antoine (c 1600–1648), Louis (c. 1603?–1648) and Mathieu (1607–1677) Le Nain, it is not possible to establish which brother, or combination of brothers, painted it. This painting is unsigned, but when they signed their works, from 1641 to 1648, it was simply as Lenain. Description The painting is in oil on canvas and in good condition, with minor losses; it measures . The Adoration of the Shepherds is a very common subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art, and the composition is an arrangement of the conventional components, including the Holy Family, the ox and ass or donkey, angels, and three shepherds, two old and one young. One shepherd and an angel are glancing out to the viewer's left, and it has been suggested that they have seen the approach of the Biblical Magi, which may have been the subject of a matching painting.