Nativity in Art Part 8

The Nativity in Art

Art After 1800

The subject of the Nativity becomes surprisingly uncommon in the artistic mainstream after the eighteenth century. Though, popular religious depictions have continued to flourish, despite the competition from secular Christmas imagery.

Rest on the Flight by Philipp Otto Runge, 1806

Edwin Long, Anno Domini, 1883, shows the arrival in Egypt

Flight by Carl Spitzweg, 1875-9

The Journey of the Magi by James Tissot, 1894

Paul Gauguin, Bé Bé, 1896, with a Tahitian setting

Adolf Hölzel, Anbetung, 1912

(Source: Wikipedia, Nativity of Jesus in Art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_of_Jesus_in_art)

Nativity in Art Part 7

The Nativity in Art

Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo Art

From the sixteenth century, plain Nativities with just the Holy Family, become a clear minority.  By the seventeenth century, the compositions become more varied as artistic originality becomes more highly regarded; the works illustrated by Gerard van Honthorst and Charles Le Brun of the Adoration of the Shepherds show different poses and actions by Mary, neither quite the same as the traditional ones.

Dirck Barendsz, 1565, St. John’s Church, Gouda

Worship of the shepherds, by Bronzino, ca. 1550

El Greco, Adoration of the Shepherds lit by the Christ Child, ca. 1570

Gerard van Honthorst, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1622

Adoration of the Shepherds, Charles Le Brun, ca. 1670

(Source: Wikipedia, Nativity of Jesus in Art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_of_Jesus_in_art)

Nativity in Art Part 6

The Nativity in Art

Renaissance Art

From the fifteenth century onwards, the Adoration of the Magi increasingly became a more common depiction than the Nativity proper, partly as the subject lent itself to many pictorial details and rich coloration, and partly as paintings became larger, with more space for the more crowded subject.  In the West, the Magi developed large exotically-dressed attendants, which sometimes threaten to take over the composition.

Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, ca. 1440

Adoration of the Magi, Botticelli, ca. 1470

This terracotta relief by Giovanni della Robbia shows the Christ Child as part of the Holy Trinity, adored by Mary, Joseph and Franciscan saints, ca. 1480

The Doni Tondo represents the Holy Family resting on the way to Egypt; Michelangelo, 1504

(Source: Wikipedia, Nativity of Jesus in Art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_of_Jesus_in_art)

Nativity in Art Part 5

The Nativity in Art

Western Art

The West adopted many of the Byzantine iconographic elements, but preferred the scriptural stable to the cave. During the Gothic period, in the North earlier than in Italy, increasing closeness between mother and child develops, and Mary begins to hold her baby, or he looks over to her.  In many images St. Joseph is depicted sleeping.

Romanesque capital from Saint-Pierre, Chauvigny, 12th century

12th century glass from Basilica of Saint Denis, Paris

Nativity from Duccio’s Maestá, 13th century

German illuminated manuscript with two scenes of the Magi, ca. 1220

The Nativity in the Scrovegni Chapel by Giotto, ca. 1300

The image in later medieval Northern Europe was often influenced by the vision of the Nativity of Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), a very popular mystic. Shortly before her death, she described a vision of the infant Jesus as lying on the ground, and emitting light himself, and describes the Virgin as blond-haired; many depictions reduced other light sources in the scene to emphasize this effect. Other details such as a single candle "attached to the wall", and the presence of God the Father above, also come from Bridget's vision:

...the virgin knelt down with great veneration in an attitude of prayer, and her back was turned to the manger.... And while she was standing thus in prayer, I saw the child in her womb move and suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her son, from whom radiated such an ineffable light and splendor, that the sun was not comparable to it, nor did the candle that St. Joseph had put there, give any light at all, the divine light totally annihilating the material light of the candle.... I saw the glorious infant lying on the ground naked and shining. His body was pure from any kind of soil and impurity. Then I heard also the singing of the angels, which was of miraculous sweetness and great beauty...

After this the Virgin kneels to pray to her child, to be joined by St Joseph, and this (technically known as the Adoration of the Child) becomes one of the commonest depictions in the fifteenth century, largely replacing the reclining Virgin in the West.

This Nativity by Rogier van der Weyden, follows Bridget's vision, ca. 1430

Altar in the church of the Holy Cross, Saint Peter and Genovefa in Ellhofen, Germany

(Source: Wikipedia, Nativity of Jesus in Art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_of_Jesus_in_art)