Holy Family with Shepherds

Signed and dated, "J. Jor. Fe. 1616". This intimate staging of an Adoration is the earliest known dated work by Jordaens. The strong contrast of light and shadow recalls the dramatic lighting effects of Caravaggio and his followers. Jordaens is not known to have traveled to Italy but he absorbed the Caravaggesque style from painters who had been there, especially his Antwerp colleagues Rubens and Abraham Janssen. (http://www.metmuseum.org)