The Adoration of the Shepherds is an oil on canvas painting by the Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi, commonly known as Caravaggio.

It was commissioned for the Capuchin Franciscans and was painted in Messina for the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in 1609 just one year before the artist's death.

Michelangelo Merisi, commonly known as Caravaggio, was born in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, Italy in 1571.

Presumably under Cardinal Francesco de Monte, Caravaggio was commissioned to decorate a wall dedicated to Saint Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi.

Caravaggio painted from life rather than drawings, which initially received criticism but later revolutionized the term “artistic realism”.

Many were critical of Caravaggio's approach to his religious paintings and called it “vulgar” to represent biblical figures as ordinary peasants.

All three shepherds, as well as Joseph identified by a faint halo, look on with amazement and complete adoration at this infant child born in a barn.

Other than the halos, the clasped hands of the shepherds are the only thing hinting of any religious importance in the painting.

Stylistically, Caravaggio used a technique called chiaroscuro, a strong contrast between dark and light.

By seating the Virgin on the ground, Caravaggio implies that she is not a heavenly queen, but rather a simple young mother.