Annunciation to the Shepherds

Annunciation to the Shepherds

Jean Jacques Lagrenée

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Gospel of Luke describes the sudden appearance of an angel to a group of shepherds keeping watch over their flock at night. As "the glory of the Lord" shines around them, the angel announces the news of the birth of the Messiah. In this finished drawing, exhibited in Paris in 1775, the shepherds can barely withstand the angel's powerful luminosity, suggested by the crisp strokes of white gouache that gleam against the vibrant blue paper.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Annunciation to the ShepherdsAnnunciation to the ShepherdsAnnunciation to the ShepherdsAnnunciation to the ShepherdsAnnunciation to the Shepherds

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.