,^ 



THE ADORATION 

 OF THE SHEPHERDS 



BY 



HUGO VAN DER GOES. 



THERE has been lately placed in the Uffizi Gallery, the large 

 'Adoration of the Shepherds,' by Hugo van der Goes, which was 

 painted between 1470 and 1475 by order of Tommaso Portinari, 

 agent of the Medici in Bruges, for the Chapel of the Florentine Hospital 

 of Santa Maria Nuova. 



It is a tryptich. On the side wings are the donor and his family ; 

 in the centre is the ' Adoration of the Shepherds.' 



Upon the ground in the courtyard of a stable, the Holy Child lies 

 in a pool of light emanating from Himself. His mother kneels beside 

 Him, and plain little angels with jewelled head-dresses form a circle 

 round them.; To the right is a group of adoring shepherds — to the 

 left Saint Joseph. 



In the foreground of the picture, before the Infant Christ, there lies 

 a sheaf of corn. There are also two vases. One is of pottery, with a 

 conventional design of grapes and vine leaves, and is filled with orange 

 lilies and the purple and the white iris. In the other, which is of 

 transparent glass, there is columbine and three red c irnations ; upon 

 the ground are scattered blue and white violets. Each flower is painted 

 with the most exquisite precision. Here the flower symbols all 

 emphasize the spiritual significance of the scene. The scattered violets 

 symbolize humility, for the King of Heaven lies on the ground as a 

 little Child. The white ones among them may denote the innocence of 

 His babyhood. The transparent glass so often seen in Annunciations, 

 is the symbol of His immaculate conception, the group of carnations, 

 alike in shape and colour, typifies the divine love of the triune Godhead, 



281 



