The Christmas Story: Annunciation to the Shepherds

Taddeo Gaddi - Annunciation to the Shepherds - c. 1330 - Fresco - Cappella Baroncelli, Santa Croce, Florence (click photo for larger image)The Gospel of St. Luke reports that the shepherds were tending their flocks outside Bethlehem when an angel suddenly appeared, announcing that the savior has just been born in the town of Bethlehem.

Medieval painter Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1290 - 1366) was the Florentine son of a painter and mosaicist. According to Cennino Cennini, Taddeo was was also Giotto’s godson and worked with him for twenty-four years. In 1347, Gaddi headed a list of the best living painters compiled for the purpose of choosing a master to paint a new high altarpiece for Pistoia Cathedral.

In the work featured here, the artist imagines the scene taking place on a steep hill in the middle of the night. Only one of the shepherds is awake so far, the other is hunched like a rock behind him. Sheep and dogs are beginning to stir, as the angel speaks from above – a shepherd and his flock waking up to the astonishing news. Gaddi was very involved in the study of light effects, perhaps as a consequence of the solar eclipses that repeatedly occurred in the 1330s. Indeed, studying the solar eclipse in 1339 led Gaddi to develop a serious eye illness.