Adoration of the Shepherds panel

This handcrafted lampshade panel illustrates the Adoration of the Shepherds. According to the Gospel of Luke, “So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us’” (2:15).

The panel is one of six scenes from the Nativity narrative decorating a Christmas-themed lampshade in Glencairn’s Chapel. The plexiglass shade was commissioned by Raymond Pitcairn in the late 1930s or early 1940s; it was designed and painted by Francis Eugene Snyder (1908–1995). Synder painted the plexiglass with oils and other media in order to achieve the appearance and texture of stained glass when the lamp is turned on.

The other five panels on this lamp depicting the Christmas story are: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Journey of the Wise Men, the Presentation at the Temple, and the Flight into Egypt.