L'Adoration des bergers

In 1483, a huge Flemish altarpiece reached Florence: the Portinari Triptych by Hugo van der Goes, shipped from Bruges for a hospital church. Its plain, weather-worn shepherds startled Florentine painters used to more idealised figures. Ghirlandaio was finishing this panel for the banker Francesco Sassetti just as the Flemish work went on view, and you can see him answering it. The three shepherds crowding in from the right have coarse, particular faces. The one with brown hair, looking out at us, is thought to be the painter himself. The manger is a Roman sarcophagus carved with a Latin inscription, and a long procession of the Magi winds down through a ruined classical arch behind.