The Nativity
Gustave Doré, 1866 · Luke 2:15
The passage
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
Luke 2:15
About this plate
A stable interior under heavy rafters. Mary at the centre with the child; Joseph behind; shepherds crowded in at the right, one still holding his staff, one kneeling. An ox stands in the near foreground, and sheep press in at the front of the plate, closer to us than any of the people.
The animals in the front row are the composition. Doré puts them between us and the manger, so you look past a sheep's back to see the child. Nobody has cleared a space.
The verse is the shepherds talking themselves into it. Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass. They are not summoned. The angels have gone away again, and the men have to decide, and the sentence records the decision rather than the vision.
Which means the crowd in this picture is a crowd of people who chose to walk somewhere on a rumour. Doré draws them with mud on them, still carrying what they were carrying, and gives the brightest passage in the plate to the linen the baby is lying in.
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