The Museum of the Ways of the Gaudí Palace closes 2023 by presenting this December the “Adoration of the Shepherds”, a 16th century polychrome wood panel from Burganes de Valverde (Zamora). On this occasion the ‘Piece of the Month’ highlights a moment commemorating the Nativity of Christ as Christmas approaches. It will be on display throughout the month of December in a prominent place on the second floor of the Gaudí Palace.
This magnificent panel is one of the most remarkable pictorial works of the Museo de los Caminos. It represents the Adoration of the Shepherds, only narrated in the Gospel of St. Luke (Lk 2:8-20) and shows an ideal theme to bring religion closer to the people, presenting with simplicity and emotion a scene that promotes an easy identification between the believer and God. In addition, the episode of Cain and Abel in grisaille on the impost of the arch that is posed as an architectural frame and the Annunciation to the Shepherds dominating the landscape in the background follow one another in different planes.
With a composition in three planes, with a strong spatial valuation, framing the scene in an imposing classical architecture. The Virgin Mary and St. Joseph prostrate before the Child Jesus, in the foreground, and behind them the shepherds appear with their lambs. On the left, in an interesting backlight, an angel shows a phylactery reading “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”. The opening of the arch allows the landscape work with the Annunciation to the Shepherds.
Vivid colors in the clothing, powerful and dynamic anatomies aesthetically define this 16th century painting, which contains an enriching symbolic intention: Good and Evil, the announcement and birth of the Redeemer and the evangelical value of poverty and simplicity.
The Gaudí Palace can be visited from Monday to Sunday from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm and in the afternoons from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm. With the exhibition of this table of the sixteenth century will be able to discover all the pieces that have been highlighted in recent months and are also on display on the second floor of the Palace. This work will be moved at the end of December, although it can be visited until the end of January in the exhibition.