Adoration of the shepherds

I’ve only recently started to study paintings.

A good place to start is watching the Simon Schama series Power of Art—perfect for the beginner art enthusiast.

I came upon this Renaissance oil painting recently.

It’s a Nativity scene.

Lorenzo Lotto painted Adoration of the Shepherds around 1534.

If you look carefully, Jesus embraces a lamb—like Jesus embracing the sacrifice He will become.

Look how Jesus is positioned. He’s laid in a most vulnerable way. This is a pointed message of paradox between being a god king yet He is also a vulnerable human baby.

There are a lot of other things to consider in this painting: the color choices, where shadows and illumination are expressed, where the eyes of each character are pointed, the ox and donkey as metaphors for gentiles and Jews, that majesty gives way instead for intimacy.

What else do you notice?