About this print

Shepherds Above Bethlehem, Luke 2:14

The song is over, the sky is growing light, and three shepherds look down at the town where they are about to go.

What is painted

On a rocky hillside covered with scrub and dry grass, a large olive tree spreads over a small flock of sheep. Two shepherds with staffs stand among them; a third sits on a rock nearby, looking out. Below, the slope descends to a misty valley where a winding path leads to a walled hill town with a tower, cypresses standing tall around it.

Layers of soft mountains fill the distance, and the sky glows pale gold as the sun breaks through the clouds at dawn. It is painted in sage, olive and warm cream with a hazy, luminous finish that fades at the edges. Below, in an elegant serif italic: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”, with Luke 2:14 underneath.

The song of the angels

In Luke's account, an angel appears to shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem to announce the birth of a Savior, and then suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host joins him, praising God. Verse 14 is their song, and it is one of the oldest hymns of the Church: in Latin it begins “Gloria in excelsis Deo”, and it is still sung or said in many liturgies today.

The song has two halves. Glory belongs to God above; peace comes down to the earth below. After the angels leave, the shepherds say to one another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem”, and they come with haste and find Mary, Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.

The painting chooses the quiet after the song, at first light, just before the shepherds set out for the town below.

For Christmas, and for peace at home

A landscape Christmas print like this one can stay up well past December. It looks beautiful above a mantel, a piano or a sofa, and the soft green palette works with year-round decor rather than only red and gold.

The words of peace and good will make it a thoughtful housewarming gift, a present for a church choir member, or a Christmas gift for a pastor. As Christian wall art it pairs well with the night scene of Luke 2:8 from the same series. This Christian poster is printed to order in the US on heavy archival matte paper and ships unframed.

The same shepherds keeping watch the night before are painted with Luke 2:8, under a bright star. Read Luke 2 and what it means