Tuesday, January 4, 2011

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)

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