Adoration of the Shepherds c. 18th century

Curator: Domenico Cunego, who lived from 1726 to 1803, created this print titled "Adoration of the Shepherds", now held in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The composition is striking, everyone is gathered around this central light source. It’s very theatrical. Curator: The printmaking process itself would have involved careful layering of etched lines, considering the accessibility and spread of religious imagery within 18th-century society. Editor: Absolutely. Think about the public role of religious art then—it wasn't just about devotion, but also about communicating power and social order. Cunego's print makes that very clear. Curator: It does underscore the power of reproducibility in disseminating religious ideas to a broader audience through readily available materials. Editor: It’s interesting how it plays with light, almost as if the divine is materializing through the ink on the page. Curator: A reminder that even seemingly simple images were complex products of labor, belief, and social context.