The Annunciation to the Shepherds

The subject of the Annunciation to the Shepherds is repeated in two other works of the same subject by the artist, illustrated in W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau/Pfalz, 1983, IV, p. 2786, nos. 1874 and 1875, illustrated pp. 2843 and 2844 respectively, also mentioning a drawing and other depictions by the artist. Sumowski notes that the basic composition of these works, as well as ones by Flick (ibid., II, p. 1020, no. 615, illustrated p. 1047) and Adriaen van Ostade (ibid., I, p. 125, illustrated), derives from Rembrandt's eponymous engraving of 1634 (B.44). In the present picture, de Wet has reversed the composition, but retains his idiosyncratic depiction of a mother and child as the central figures amongst the shepherds.