3-097-499 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Winter Landscape with the Adoration of the Shepherds, 1650. A vast winter landscape dominates the composition, identifiable by the lifeless vegetation and the snow covering the mountains and valleys, and the snow that continues to fall. Shepherds come to adore the Christ Child in the days leading up to the winter solstice. These men and women carry gifts in baskets and sacks, and some have musical instruments. This carefully constructed winter setting serves to underscore the warmth and intimacy of the scene unfolding in the stable in Bethlehem, which, although relegated to the far left, becomes the narrative focus of the painting and imbues the white landscape with meaning.