Annunciation Of The Shepherd

I will discuss the iconographical content in Christological order, ending with the lateral saints who are outside of the narrative. In the side panels, the first scene in the narrative is the Annunciation, which takes place across the space in a quasi-ethereal conversation between the angel Gabriel and Mary. This scene is followed chronologically in the central panel by the Annunciation to the Shepherds and immediately below by the Nativity and subsequent Adoration of the Shepherds. When the wings close upon the central panel, one finds a sorrowful Madonna contemplating the Crucified Christ. Culminating the narrative, the Last Judgment scene surmounts the triptych and can be seen when the wings are open or closed, presiding over every scene

5). In the horizon skillfully painted in atmospheric perspective, appears an angel of the Lord bursting in glory from a heavenly portal, carrying an olive branch in his left hand and appeasing the terrified shepherds with the good news of joy: that “in the town of David, a Savior has been born…the Messiah, the Lord.” The shepherds, who lived in the fields, seem still slightly startled. They are accompanied towards the bottom by what could be mistaken for a sheepdog but is in fact most likely a she-wolf (in direct political reference to Siena). The three shepherds along with the sleeping she-wolf “gather around the comfort of a fire, fashioned of painted and sgraffitoed gold leaf,” same technique which was used for the rendering of the angel. One of the shepherds seems to wake in surprise at the angel’s visitation, another is facing the black and white sheep, keeping watch of the flock when interrupted by the good news while a third one in the middle and closer to the viewer seems almost prepared to depart, as if there was an implication of the passage of time within the scene itself- an implication that becomes more evident throughout the triptych as the scenes are purposefully distributed along the