Aanbidding door de herders 1619 - 1691

Pieter Verbruggen the Younger made this pen and brown ink drawing, "Adoration of the Shepherds," sometime in the mid-17th century. Drawings like this one give us insight into the artistic process in the Baroque period. We see the visual codes of the Catholic Counter-Reformation played out with dramatic light, angelic figures, and humble adoration. Verbruggen was part of a family of artists in Antwerp, a city that remained Catholic, unlike the northern Netherlands. His father was a well-known sculptor, and Pieter the Younger also worked in that medium as well as producing designs for engravings. This drawing may have been preparation for a larger work, perhaps a sculpture for one of the many churches being renovated and redecorated at this time. To understand it better, we can research the artistic networks in Antwerp and the religious and political pressures shaping artistic patronage. Art history helps us understand how images like this participated in larger cultural conversations.