The Adoration of the Shepherds
El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) and Workshop
ca. 1612–14 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings
This is a smaller version of an altarpiece El Greco painted for the chapel in Toledo where he would be buried (that work is now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid). He repeated the subject frequently, and this example was made in collaboration with workshop assistants who were familiar with his idiosyncrasies of palette and form. In comparison with another version hanging nearby, the figures here are more tightly cropped, resulting in a greater sense of immediacy. The lower halves of the two foreground figures in particular have been greatly elongated, not extending into space but trailing along the picture plane.
- Artist
- El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) and Workshop
- Date
- ca. 1612–14
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Department
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- Bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941
