Commissioned around 1628 as an altarpiece for the Oratorio of San Carlo at Sabbia, near the regions of Lombardy and Piedmont, where Tanzio da Varallo’s impressive career primarily flourished, the Adoration of the Shepherds offers a glimpse into the artist’s working process and also reflects his consideration of contemporaneous viewers. Surviving drawings from Tanzio’s oeuvre reveal his practice of reusing figures in various paintings. In this composition, which draws its narrative from the Gospel of Luke, specifically the nativity account in which an angel informs some shepherds of Christ’s divine arrival, Tanzio adapts drawings such as Studies of the Virgin (M.87.109) and the Kneeling Monk (The Morgan Library & Museum) for the figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint Francis of Assisi, shown at right with his stigmata. Furthermore, Tanzio’s lifelike portrayal of Saint Carlo Borromeo, the recently deceased archbishop of Milan, who is depicted kneeling at left, was recognizable to worshippers at the time the altarpiece was painted. Two shepherds, standing behind Francis, are possibly Tanzio’s studio assistants, which adds a personal touch to the scene.
Tanzio’s arrangement of crowded figures thrust forward—leaving minimal space to depict the stable and the moonlit night sky—creates a sense of intimate immediacy, as if the viewer were taking part in the drama.
2024
