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Lucas Emil Vorsterman, printmaker

Adoration of the Shepherds, 1620

Description

Maker

  • After Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640, Flemish, associated artist/maker
  • Lucas Emil Vorsterman, 1595-1675, Flemish, printmaker

Title

Adoration of the Shepherds

Year

1620

Medium

Engraving on medium weight cream laid paper, trimmed to platemark

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • engraving

Supports

  • Medium weight cream laid paper

Dimensions

Plate/Image: 28.3 x 44.3 cm (11 1/8 x 17 7/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Verso:in pencil, LL:A-15 9/29/70/ProutéIn Plate--In LL:P.P. Rubens pinxit.; in LC:Cum priuilegys(umlaut over y), Regis Christeanissimi, Principum Belgarum, & Ordinum Batauiae; in LR:Lucas Vo

Identification

State

2nd of 2

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

70.157

Projects & Publications

Publications

The Brilliant Line

Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line

September 18, 2009 - January 3, 2010

The young Flemish artist Lucas Vorsterman was the first engraver to work for Pieter Paul Rubens with the express mission of reproducing his paintings. Vorsterman covered every inch of the copperplate, realizing fully the tonal transitions from background to foreground with an astounding array of marks. The Virgin’s face comprises light, ornamental flicking characteristic of the fine manner, combined with the netting and grids more common to Agostino Carracci’s system. The untidy, almost haphazard application of marks at the edges of forms (look at the ox’s snout, for instance) produced soft transitions that one would observe in a painting. The sheer number of marks decreases the emphasis on individual lines, achieving Rubens’s desired effect of overall tone and color.

After learning of the birth of a Messiah from an angel, the shepherds visited the nativity as near witnesses to the birth of Christ. Rubens’s painting of this subject originally hung in the Church of St. John in Mechelen.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Adoration of the Shepherds with the accession number of 70.157. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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