The Adoration of the Shepherds. El Greco

This painting shows a group of shepherds who adore the baby Jesus in the Nativity scene.

The baby Jesus is in the centre, and the light in the painting seems to come from the baby.

The baby seems to emit the light.

The light from the baby illuminates the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, who are next to the baby.

This light fills the scene and surprises the 3 shepherds.

There is an ox between the shepherds and the baby Jesus.

The ox looks at the baby.

It seems that the ox also wants to adore the baby.

Above, a group of angels look down from heaven on the scene.

El Greco paints elegant figures.

The bodies of the figures are in torsion, which means that their poses are bent or forced.

In this painting, we can see that El Greco understood colour and light in a unique way.

We can see this in how he uses brushstrokes to paint the figures and how the baby illuminates a night scene in a narrow place.

Some experts say that El Greco portrayed himself in this painting as the shepherd with the beard who kneels, and he portrayed his son Jorge Manuel as the shepherd who stands.

This painting is one of the most important works that El Greco painted during the last years of his life.

El Greco created this painting for his own funeral chapel in the church of the convent of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo.

He chose this chapel for his burial.