In the background, van der Goes painted scenes related to the main subject: on the left panel, Joseph and Mary on the road to Bethlehem; on the central panel (to the right), the shepherds visited by the angel; on the right panel, the Three Magi on the road to Bethlehem. Hugo van der Goes used continuous narrative to show the same characters repeated in one painting. In the central panel, he sets the characters up in the background first. Here, the shepherds are seen with an angel over their heads. This scene is the Annunciation of the Shepherds where the angel comes to tell the shepherds of the news of Christ's birth. In the foreground of the central panel, the shepherds are seen now adoring Christ across from the Virgin Mary.