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MANTEGNA, Andrea: The Adoration of the Shepherds

🖼 The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1451-53
Tempera on canvas transferred from wood
40 × 56 cm
New York, United States

Golden light bathes the humble stable scene, where shepherds kneel in reverence around the infant Christ, rendered with Mantegna's precise linear perspective and sculptural forms. This work revolutionized religious narrative by grounding sacred mystery in intimate human emotion and architectural space.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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