Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1500–1510): Art, History and Details

Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1500–1510) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nicoletto da Modena (Italian, active c. 1500–1520).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Nicoletto da Modena, originally from northern Italy, spent considerable time in Venice, an artistic crossroads where he likely encountered prints by Northern European engravers, such as Martin Schongauer. Works like Schongauer’s Nativity, from the Life of the Virgin, influenced Nicoletto to include curved and cross-hatched lines to build volume and shadow. Nicoletto also borrowed freely from Schongauer’s composition, including the central Virgin Mary, Christ child, Joseph, and shepherds. Among other modifications, he replaced Schongauer’s pointed, Gothic stable with a rounded arch and changed the background to a lake scene.

Object facts

• Title: Adoration of the Shepherds
• Date: c. 1500–1510
• Creator attribution: Nicoletto da Modena (Italian, active c. 1500–1520)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1925.164

Collection credit

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

Further reading listed by the museum

• Prasse, Leona. "Three Engravings by Nicoletto Rosex da Modena." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 36, no. 3 (March 1949) : 32-33.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.