Art Institute of Chicago

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Master HFE

Date

c. 1520

Medium

Engraving on paper

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Still unidentified by name, the 16th-century artist known as Master H. E. signed his curiously themed prints with an H. E. monogram. The Master H. E.’s Adoration of the Shepherds is an unusually windblown and eerie envisioning of the scene, set in an architectural framework more reminiscent of a ruined temple than a stable. The awestruck shepherds, the restless farm animals, and the harsh sun work together to suggest that the prints’ viewers as well are witnessing a momentous historical event, one tinged here with a hint of the supernatural.

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