1552
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Adoration of the Shepherds is a 1552 by Battista Franco Veneziano, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Battista Franco shows shepherds kneeling before baby Jesus in a crowded stable. Mary and Joseph sit to the side. The shepherds wear simple robes with deep folds. Franco studied Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel figures closely. His figures twist in dramatic poses. The print feels alive with movement and muscle. This print feels like a snapshot of a big event. Check out The Cleveland Museum of Art’s copy of this work.
Battista Franco was one of Michelangelo’s most devoted followers: his biographer Giorgio Vasari wrote that he drew every figure on the master’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. In Franco’s own works, such as this print, he made new, inventive compositions that emulated Michelangelo without directly copying or quoting his works. The print depicts the group of shepherds who visited the Christ child shortly after his birth. Franco used twisting, active poses and emphasized anatomy and musculature, creating distinct groups of figures in the foreground and background. Guided by a host of angels, the…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Battista Franco Veneziano (c. 1510 - 1561), baptized Giovanni Battista Franco, was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker in etching active in Rome, Urbino, and Venice in the mid 16th century. He is also known as…
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