The Adoration of the Shepherds

Around 1700, Van der Werff was one of the most sought-after painters in Europe, and princely collectors wanted exactly this: small, meticulous religious scenes to hold close. This one, painted in 1703, is a Nativity staged as a night. The only real light in it comes from the newborn child himself, lying on a white cloth and glowing, so that the faces leaning in over him, a shepherd bent low, the Virgin lifting the linen, an old Joseph behind, are lit from below by the baby they have come to see. Dutch painters had staged the scene this way for two centuries, letting the Christ child be the lamp of his own manger. Above, a small angel drifts down through the dark on a shaft of light. At the Virgin's feet, dropped in the straw, lies a shepherd's wide plain hat.