The painting is a work which the artist made to hang over his own tomb in the convent of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo.

The painting is now in the Museo del Prado which states that it can be considered the artist's last work.

[3] Extreme distortion of body characterizes the Adoration of the Shepherds like all the last paintings of El Greco.

The infant Christ seems to emit a light which plays off the faces of the barefoot shepherds who have gathered to pay homage to his miraculous birth.

The group of angels which hovers over the scene may resemble the missing section of The Opening of the Fifth Seal.