The Adoration of the Shepherds
1612
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
About the artist
1612
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Adoration of the Shepherds is a 1612 ink by Antoine Jacquard, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This image shows a busy scene packed with people and animals in a dim, shadowy space. At the center, a group gathers around a baby in a manger, while figures in the background watch from a distance. The whole scene is etched into a single plate with fine lines that create texture and depth. The dark, crowded look comes from the artist’s use of tiny, overlapping lines to build shadows—this is called cross-hatching. It makes the scene feel dense and dramatic, like a story unfolding in one tight frame. Next, check out how cross-hatching works up close—it’s a key trick in old prints like this.
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