[1][2] The tradition of representing the theme of the adoration of the shepherds, taken from the Gospel of Luke, was very common in 17th-century painting, specially among the Caravaggesque painters, who transformed this episode into a nocturnal scene by candle light.

La Tour, a painter strongly influenced by Caravaggio, departed from the traditional iconography of the birth of Christ in this painting.

It is the only source of light that falls on the faces of the gathered people, but thanks to the obscuring hand of an old man, that is Saint Joseph, the viewer has the impression that the glow radiates from the Child Jesus.

The Virgin is enhanced by her red robe, on the left, while Joseph carries the light, a traditional symbol of truth.

[3] The painting was probably commissioned by the citizens of the city of Lunéville, in 1644, as a tribute to the new governor, Maruiq de la Fert.