Scuola Grande San Rocco in Venice “The Adoration of the Shepherds”

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Tintoretto “The Adoration of the Shepherds”

Oil on Canvas (542 x 455 cm) 1578-1581

Behold, a stable and its hay store placed above the animals is filled with people from all over the countryside.

It was here that, according to the Angel's indications, they found the newborn baby, Christ the Saviour!

Below, the activity of the people in the foreground contrasts with the indifferent tranquillity of the domestic animals occupying the mezzanine at the back.

A cock is pecking in the straw in front of a reclining cow, and a peacock is perched on the handle of a pitchfork hanging on the wall.

The Adoration of the Shepherds Meanwhile, the visiting shepherds joyfully unwrap their gifts, which they pass on to the two women above them, piously kneeling before the Virgin who unveils the child to them.

Below, the natural light streaming in through the entrance highlights the beautiful colours of the cockerel and peacock, as well as those of the shepherds' lively clothes.

Above, supernatural light falls directly from the sky through the roof beams onto Marie and her baby, onto the face of Joseph seated next to Marie, and onto the two young women with lowered eyelids.

Through daring superimposition, this magnificent work illustrates an exceptional and incredible event: the birth of the divine child in the utmost simplicity.

Tintoretto “The Temptation of Christ”

Oil on Canvas (539 x 330 cm) 1578-1581

The Temptation of Christ Tintoretto has chosen to show the devil's first attempt to divert the Christ from his mission as a man of God:

After his baptism, Jesus had withdrawn into the desert, just as Moses had stayed forty days and forty nights on the mountain.

“And after fasting forty days and forty nights, at last he was hungry.

And coming forward, the tempter said to him, “If you are the son of God, say that these stones become loaves of bread.”

Answering, he said: ”It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Gospels: Luke 4 - Matthew 4

The scene depicts Jesus at the top right of the painting, seated under a plank shelter, bending to the left to respond to the tender-faced demon who is looking at him so kindly and handing him two beautiful stones, round as loaves of bread.

He offers his stones as an innocent child would to a magician.

The Temptation of Christ The emaciated face surrounded by light and the serene attitude of Jesus, illustrate both his physical fatigue and his spiritual strength in the face of temptation.

Temptation offered by this beautiful hermaphrodite with biceps adorned with bracelets and whose garment, matching his pink wings, now covers only his hips and thighs.

The devil's malice invents every trick in the book to exploit the slightest weakness, as soon as it becomes apparent.

Evil can disguise itself as solicitude.

Yet it was the miracles performed by Jesus that had convinced the crowds who followed him, and who saw in him God's Chosen One capable of relieving them of all evils.

The Multiplication of Bread

Tintoretto “The Multiplication of Breads and Fish”

Oil on Canvas (523 x 475 cm) 1578-1581

Gospels according to: John 6, v. 1-13. And: Mark 6, v. 31-34. Luke 9, v. 10-17. Matt. 14, v. 15-21.

At the bottom of the painting, the exhausted and starving bodies of the many faithful who follow Jesus like a flock follows its shepherd.

To their right, at the foot of the hill, a pitying man (Tintoretto?) watches them.

From here he guides us along the dark line of the hill; and we see nursing women among the colourful crowd of confident worshippers.