The Adoration of the Shepherds: A Night Piece

Rembrandt was printing mezzotint-like prints before the medium existed. Ludwig von Siegen’s invention of mezzotint engraving may even owe something to his encounter with Rembrandt’s prints during a pivotal 1642 visit to Amsterdam. Several of Rembrandt’s works dating from the 1650s—when few were familiar with the mezzotint process—were traditionally called “dark manner” or “night pieces.” In this unusually nocturnal Adoration, tardy shepherds arouse the Holy Family. The mezzotint process was an important part of Rembrandt’s career: copies of Rembrandt’s prints were made entirely in mezzotint, occasionally his drypoint lines were refreshed using mezzotint effects, and some of his plates were finished posthumously by other hands using the method.