PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Madrid; Nicholas M. Acquavella Galleries; BJU, 1962.

Characteristics of the classicist style first appeared in Holland in the work of Hendrick Goltzius and were assimilated by his student Pieter Fransz. de Grebber. De Grebber and Salomon de Bray are credited with pioneering the classicist school in Haarlem, whose influence spread throughout the Netherlands. Besides his large output of religious paintings, de Grebber was also active as an amateur poet and composer. At the end of his life, the artist published eleven rules for artists, explaining his theory of painting.

In spite of his adherence to the classicist movement, de Grebber also produced a number of early works in a Caravaggesque style learned from Utrecht artists such as Honthorst. The Adoration of the Shepherds was a favorite theme of Caravaggio and his followers and is one of de Grebber's most obvious paintings in this style. He presents a small group of plebian Dutch models illuminated by two lit candles in the night. A young child gently reaches in wonder and touches the new babe as adults hover protectively near, a scene as familiar as new life itself. The absence of halos further enhances the presentation of this historical scene in a contemporary manner.