It is extremely likely that these two panels, -The Adoration of the Shepherds and The Adoration of the Magi-, similar in format, measurements and style, belonged to the predella of the same altarpiece, since both have the usual configuration of paintings destined for this type of placement, and the compositional design in each case displays similarities in the size and arrangement of the figures as well as the background scenery. Further indications that their provenance is probably one and the same include the fact that both works were acquired in Valencia, together with the findings of the technical studies carried out, which have shown that several of the wooden boards that make up the panels come from the same tree. It is not known today what their original destination was, or when they ceased to belong to the supposed altarpiece they were made for.

Throughout his career, Morales dedicated himself especially to the painting of altarpieces, since this was the type of work most heavily in demand from successful artists like him, and the most sought after by the artists themselves because the prestige and financial returns it brought them were considerable. Unfortunately, hardly any complete altarpieces by Morales have been preserved in situ -only those of Arroyo de la Luz and San Martín in Plasencia- although there are scattered panels like these, and a large amount of existing documentary evidence that proves he was working on altarpieces from about 1540 until shortly before his death. For these commissions, he organised a large studio where the work was shared by his sons and numerous assistants, who followed the master’s style when collaborating on the execution of the various subjects. The result was the creation of rather repetitive models and compositions based on the use of prints by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Martin Schongauer (c. 1430-1491), Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder (1502-1550) and others, and a somewhat disparate degree of finish and technical execution that depended on the hand in charge of bringing each work to completion. This modus operandi can be appreciated in these panels, whose compositional context and types are those habitually used by Morales and his workshop, and both are very similar in quality, although there are certain appreciable details in the execution which differentiate them, probably owing to the intervention of different hands in the final phase of production.

The Adoration of the Shepherds, like its partner, presents an arrangement of the figures that is suited to the compositional framework. The Holy Family is situated on the right, possibly the area that would have been closest to the tabernacle. The Virgin holds the sleeping Christ Child, whose arms are crossed on his chest in an attitude that is not rare in Morales’s production, but not habitual either. He used the same posture for the Christ Child in the Holy Family of the Marchioness of Santa Cruz de Rivadulla, formerly in the collection of the Count of Albiz. The image of St Joseph is one of his most characteristic masculine models, appearing with minor variations from the apostle next to Jesus in the Catania Last Supper until his final works. The left side is occupied by two shepherds with their traditional iconography of the lamb, symbolising the sacrifice of the son of God, and the crook, an allusion to Christ as the shepherd of souls. These two figures are rather large for the scene as a whole, and show a tendency towards greater corporal expression in their gesticulating hands and their artificial and unstable posture, reminiscent of the Mannerist style, perhaps in an attempt on the artist’s part to emphasise their emotional values.

Both works are of high quality and very representative of Morales’s style. The scene of the Epiphany is regarded as undoubtedly an autograph work. In the case of the Nativity scene, Solís has suggested the possibility of an intervention by Hernando de Morales, the artist’s eldest son and one of his habitual collaborators (Text drawn from De Antonio, T. in: The Divine Morales, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2015, pp. 69-72).