Wednesday, January 5, 2011

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)

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