Etching and aquatint in sepia, 320x460 mm. At the bottom right of the plate is the inscription J. Prestel sc. FFort am main; this is the thirty-second plate from Dessins des meilleurs peintres d'Italie, d'Allemagne et des Pays-Bas tirés de divers célèbres cabinets, a series edited by Heinrich Sebastian Hüsgen. A good example, although trimmed to the frame line.The episode of the adoration of the shepherds, here placed in a circle around the Holy Family, who rushed to Bethlehem after the announcement of the angels, placed in the engraving in the central area of the sky, is narrated in the Gospel of Luke. The archaeological ruins, a frequent element in Italian iconography of the Nativity, provide the backdrop. Here we see a row of columns, modeled on Greek temples. The unusual architectural structure symbolizes the overcoming of paganism and the construction of the Christian church, of which the birth of Jesus is the first act of foundation.