Scripture · Matthew 2:11
Luke 2:15
Adoration of the Shepherds
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
The manger is a Roman sarcophagus. Ghirlandaio places a newborn in front of an object made for the dead, so the setting already holds birth and mortality together before we begin to read its inscription.
About the artwork
The Latin text invokes an invented prophecy that a tomb would produce a new deity. This is later Christian interpretation of antiquity, not a quotation from Luke. It would have suited the interests of the patron, Francesco Sassetti, a banker and collector of classical texts and inscriptions. The painting stood in his family’s burial chapel at Santa Trinita in Florence.
The shepherds at the right bring intensely individualized faces close to the baby, while the Magi’s elaborate procession winds through the distance. Ghirlandaio combines learned stone texts with the immediate act of looking. The original frame’s inscription, discussed by scholar Jean Cadogan, identifies even Mary as adoring the one she has borne.
Featured in: Top 10 Adoration of the Shepherds Paintings, Ranked
What does Luke 2:15 mean?
Luke 2:15 records the shepherds deciding to go and see what the Lord has made known. The painting shows that decision fulfilled, then surrounds the meeting with another kind of recognition: antiquity is made to anticipate the child, and a burial monument becomes part of his welcome. The imagined prophecy belongs to the painting’s cultural world; the shepherds’ decision belongs to Luke.
Sources
Jean Cadogan — Ghirlandaio’s Adoration and the Sassetti Chapel. Interview with the author of Domenico Ghirlandaio: Artist and Artisan. The reading uses its patronage, artistic and inscription analysis, not its erroneous AD 70 dating of Pompey.
Luke 2 — Berean Standard Bible. The shepherds’ announcement and visit read in their Gospel sequence.
Top 10 Adoration of the Shepherds Paintings, Ranked. Exact-work commentary, image provenance and source register.
Also from Luke:A ForerunnerRaising of Jairus’ Daughter
Continue looking:Song of the Angels