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Jacopo Bassano, The Annunciation to the Shepherds, c. 1555–60
It is night, and the shepherds are at their ordinary work among cattle, goats and sheep. Above them the sky tears open and an angel comes down in a burst of light. One man shades his eyes with his arm; the others have not yet looked up.
Jacopo Bassano worked in the small town of Bassano del Grappa, away from Venice, and made the animals and country people of his region the main actors of his biblical pictures. The subject was in such demand that his workshop repeated it many times; this version is attributed to him.
The angel comes out of the light head first, one arm stretched down towards the shepherds.
He is the first to notice: one arm raised against the brightness.
