Angels, shepherds and animals alike appear to be rushing into the manger to greet the new born Christ child held on her lap by his mother. The artist has deliberately used gestures and gazes to give the viewer the impression of being part of the adoring crowd.

Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) was influenced by protestant Calvinist teaching and painted monumental compositions of the Adoration of the Shepherds at least three times in the early 1650s. This rendering of the Adoration is painted over fifteen joined oak panels.

X-ray examination has revealed a smaller underlying composition at the centre of the picture. It is a depiction of the Holy Family's Flight into Egypt, which Jordaens may have painted up to thirty years earlier. The artist painted over the first image turning the picture by ninety degrees and later extending the composition by adding new panels around the original ones