A winged figure with a halo strides forward.
Bible in art · Luke
The Annunciation to the Shepherds (Ms. 125, fol. 7, from the Irmengard Codex)
Unknown German painter · shortly after 1053
Getty Center, Los Angeles
From the Irmengard Codex, painted in Germany shortly after 1053 in the tradition of Reichenau. The painters worked in tempera and gold on parchment.
A huge angel strides down a hill, his robe flapping, and points at two shepherds. They raise their hands in surprise while goats and dogs gather at their feet.
From the text
- Shepherds keeping watch over their flocks (Luke 2:8)
- An angel of the Lord stood before them (Luke 2:9)
The artist’s own
- The angel as big as a giant
- A flat purple sky instead of night
Details
The angel
Shepherd
A small man raises his hands.
Second shepherd
A taller man in an orange cloak.
The flock
Goats and dogs stand on the grass.
Unknown illuminator, German (Reichenau). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Ms. 125 (2023.6), fol. 7) · Tempera colors, gold, and ink · Images provided here are believed to be in the public domain and are available under CC0 through Getty’s Open Content Program. (Getty record: "No Copyright", http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)