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| Title: | Adoration of the Child by the Shepherds |
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| Notes: | “A brochure distributed today by the contemporary Vallombrosans in Santa Trinita contains the words, ‘The Church of Santa Trinita has for nine hundred years been officiated by Vallombrosan Benedictine monks; they invite the visitor to admire the works of art found inside,but above all to perceive the spiritual values of silence, contemplative prayer and interior joy.’ These words are a reminder that the vast majority of the art produced during the Renaissance and Baroque periods was intended as spiritual aids for the meditation and contemplation of believers on various aspects of the life of Christ and his followers. Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Shepherds, like the Gospel of Luke before it, makes the bold move of placing Christianity on the larger political landscape. And like the Third Gospel before him, Ghirlandaio makes the audacious claim that the transition of world dominance from the Romans to Christianity is to be found, not in Constantine’s conversion or his mighty Christian army, but rather in the birth of a child who is first adored by lowly shepherds, not cosmopolitan magi. Further, no sooner has the child been born than the audience is asked to reflect on Christ’s death already foreshadowed in the symbols surrounding his birth (a sarcophagus, a goldfinch, a lamb, a wheat sheaf) and to contemplate the social and political implications which an embrace of this child and his good news must surely entail.” (Hornik, 115) |
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| Date: | 1485 |
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| Artist: | Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 1449-1494 |
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| Building: | Santa Trinita, Florence
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| Object/Function: | Painting |
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| City/Town: | Florence
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| Country: | Italy
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| Scripture: | Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20
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| Lectionary links: | ANatv
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| General Subject: | Adoration of the Shepherds
Adoration of the Child (Mary)
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| ICONCLASS Number: | 73B25
73B52
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| Permalink: |
https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=49130
(Use this link to refer back to this image.)
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| Copyright Source: | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anbetung_der_Hirten.jpg |
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| Copyright Permission: | Please visit the URL in the Copyright Source field on this page for details about reusing this image. |
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| Attribution: | Ghirlandaio, Domenico, 1449-1494. Adoration of the Child by the Shepherds, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=49130 [retrieved January 15, 2025]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anbetung_der_Hirten.jpg. |
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| Record Number: | 49130
Last Updated: 2021-09-18 18:32:59
Record Created: 2007-01-25 00:00:00 |
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| Institution: | Vanderbilt University
Collection: Art in the Christian Tradition |
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| Bibliographic Source: | Illuminating Luke:The infancy narrative in Italian Renaissance painting |
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| Author: | Hornik, Heidi J. and Mideal Carl Parsons |
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| Publisher: | Continuum |
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| Date: | 2003 |
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