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THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS
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c. 1505~10, 91*111cm
A perfect example of Giorgione melting into Titian, who
certainly finished some of Giorgione's paintings after his early death, is The Adoration of the Shepherds, also called
The Allendale Nativity. The balance of opinion now gives
this solely to Giorgione, but it could equally be by Titian.
In a way, the subject of the painting, or at least the focus
of the artist's greatest interest, is the evening light, and this emphasis on light and landscape, first influenced by Giorgione, remained one of Titian's most enduring concerns.
It unifies all it touches, and although there are certain activities taking place in the background, the overriding impression is of stillness and silence. The business of the normal world has come to a stop. Parents, Child, and shepherds
seem lost in an eternal reverie, a prolonged sunsetting that
will never move to clocktime. Even the animals are rapt in
prayer, and the sense of being shown not an actual event,
but a spiritual one, is very persuasive. Giorgione transports us beyond our material confines, without denying them.
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