Artists' renditions of the Nativity have long fascinated me, and have lead to some research. The study has taken me through virtually the history of art. Truly educational! I wish to share some of that study here, as we contemplate the Holy Birth of our Savior.
Liisa Berg
The Nativity, Guido da Siena, ca. 1270
The earliest depiction that I was able to find in my fairly cursory search comes from the 13th-century painter Guido da Siena who painted in Byzantine style.
Little is known of Guido da Siena and his place in Sienese painting. However, because he is the only Sienese painter of the time to have surviving works on panel with a signature, he is often viewed as the most important artistic personality at the time and the first master of the great Sienese school of painting.
This depiction was painted on a wood panel. I find it interesting how the more important the person, the larger he/she appears. Notice the size of Mary in comparison to Joseph, for example. Otherwise, the art of depicting human form was still in its infancy—naïve, one might say—yet enjoyable to view.
The Nativity, Lorenzo Veneziano, 1356
Lorenzo Veneziano (active 1356–1372) was an Italian painter. His Nativity scene is typical of the 14th-century icon-like paintings. I was not able to find any information about this artist, only that the inference from his name can be made that he was from Venice.
This painting shows the lack of perspective, typical to these early paintings, which makes them appear “flat.”
Lorenzo Monaco was an Italian painter of the late Gothic/early Renaissance age. He was born Piero di Giovanni in Siena. Little is known about his youth, apart from the fact that he apprenticed in Florence.
Monaco’s piece is still anchored in the icon-like style, but with some perspective present. Noticeable is Joseph, still strangely mutated, depicting the Medieval concept of him as a wretched old man, unimportant and, in some paintings, appearing clearly uninterested in the manger scene. Another old featur is that the Baby is on the ground—or levitating?—even when the manger is present.
Meister Francke was a North German Gothic painter and a Dominican friar, born ca. 1380 in the Lower Rhine region or possibly in the Netherlands. Francke died ca. 1440, probably in Hamburg, where he was based at the end of his known career.
Remarkably different from other painters’ style in this time pediod and “advanced,” Francke’s Nativity scene has clear, bright colors, with his hallmark starry background on red. The Baby is not in the manger, but here clearly levitating, an endowment from God who is also depicted.
Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. He was part of the so-called "third generation" of the Florentine Renaissance, along with such masters as Verrocchio and Botticelli. Ghirlandaio was the leader of a large and efficient workshop whose best-known apprentice was Michelangelo. Ghirlandaio's particular talent was his ability to depict contemporary life and portraits of contemporary people within the context of religious narratives. This brought him great popularity and many large commissions.
Curiously, Ghirlandaio’s Nativity still seems grounded in old practices, such as the Baby being on the floor and Joseph obviously unconcerned about the goings-on. However, I think this is one of the most beautifully detailed depictions of the Holy Family. (The angels are my personal favorite!)
The Adoration of the Sheperds, Hugo van der Goes, ca. 1480
Hugo van der Goes, born in Ghent ca. 1430, was a Flemish painter, one of the most important of the Early Netherlandish painters. Probably in 1478, Hugo entered Rood Klooster, a monastery near Brussels. Later on, he fell into a state of suicidal gloom, declaring himself to be damned. After returning to Rood Klooster, he recovered from his illness, and died there.
The Adoration of the Shepherds by Hugo van der Goes has been perceived by art historians as an act of artistic implosion. This is one of the first paintings where the Baby is actually in the manger and Joseph an equal partner. Perspective, motion and activitiy are present: a burst of light invades the otherwise dignified scene; a duo of musicians (upper left); a shepherd stumbles in while another has fallen to the ground; and two personages, as if serving as narrators, hold back the imaginary curtain. These two are generally considered to be Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, though they could be the artist and his benefactor.
The Mystic Nativity, Sandro Botticelli, 1500
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. (Best known works include “Primavera” and “The Birth of Venus.”)
This painting heralds a new century, but still espouses old concepts concerning the Nativity: the Baby is on the ground while the ox and ass are grazing at the manger, and Joseph, appearing disinterested in the event, sleeps nearby.
Botticelli's painting has long been called the 'Mystic Nativity' because of its mysterious symbolism. It combines Christ's birth as told in the New Testament with a vision of his Second Coming as promised in the Book of Revelation. The Second Coming will herald the end of the world and the reconciliation of devout Christians with God, which is celebrated by the angels in the foreground by embracing virtuous men.
'The Mystic Nativity' was probably painted as a private devotional work for a Florentine patron.
The Nativity, Lorenzo Lotto, 1523
The artist is Venetian Lorenzo Lotto, c. 1480 - 1556/1557, and the painting, oil on panel.
Here is the first painting of the Nativity that I found where the Baby is actually in the manger and Joseph seems more involved. The colors are brighter than most works with the same topic, which makes it seem more modern and pleasing. An astonishing detail is presented the dark shadow: a harbinger of Christ’s crucifixion.
The Nativity, Federico Barocci, 1597
(This is my favorite of all Nativity paintings. I was fortunate to study this piece in the Prado Museum in Madrid under the tutelage of the Museum Curator. Maybe that's why.)
Federico Barocci was a promising Italian artist in his late twenties when he was stricken with an incurable illness that brought his painting to a standstill. After a plea to Virgin Mary and a period of convalescing, although never fully cured, he recovered sufficiently to resume his painting. In gratitude, Barocci produced one religious masterpiece after another, in many of which he portrayed the Virgin as a maiden of incomparable beauty.
In 1597 Barocci completed his greatest masterpiece, “The Nativity.” This portrayal of the Nativity differs markedly from other such works, for the Madonna and Child are depicted as looking into each other’s eyes, instead of looking toward the viewer or toward those visiting the newborn. To the left is Joseph, now fully involved, opening the door to the shepherds who peer inside as he points excitedly with his right hand toward the Christ Child.
There is no apparent natural source of light in the stable nor lamps or candles. It is from the face of the Baby that all the light in the image flows forth, illuminating the face and dress of Mary, and even the faces of the ox and the ass near Him. We thus see Christ as the Light of the World.
The colors are fresh and bright, with rare combinations of pink and yellow, orange and purple, and brown and blue. Yes, this is my favorite!
The Adoration of the Shepherds, Peter Paul Rubens, 1608
Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish-born artist (1577-1640), who was well known in the Baroque movement, which emphasized movement, bold color choices, and sensuality in the works.
Rubens was a classically educated humanist and scholar. He produced some of the most well known pieces of his time, and was a proponent of the Baroque style. He was well known as a trusted court painter, with ties to several diplomatic figures of the time. There is no artist of any era with a feel for the physicality and sensuality of paint who hasn't been affected by Rubens in one way or another.
From 1600 up to 1608, Rubens made Italy his home, where he was at the service of Duke of Mantua. While in Italy, much of his works, and many of his studies. During his career, Rubens was influenced by the great works of El Greco, Caravaggio, Titian as well as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. He returned to Antwerp in 1608, where he became the court painter for Spanish governors of Flanders.
In this painting, four swirling angels hold up a scroll announcing Jesus's birth while Joseph is again obscurely in the background. It has recently been suggested that the voluptuous elderly female figure can be identified with the midwife.
Here again the source of light is the Baby, so much so that one of the shepherds is shading his face from the brightness.
The Adoration of the Shepherds, Jacob Jordaens,1653
Jacob Jordaens (1593 –1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits.
After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his day.
Unlike those contemporaries he never travelled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their intellectual and courtly aspirations. As well as being a successful painter, he was a prominent designer of tapestries. Like Rubens, Jordaens painted altarpieces, mythological, and allegorical scenes, and after 1640—the year Rubens died—he was the most important painter in Antwerp for large-scale commissions and the status of his patrons increased in general.
Jordaens was greatly influenced by Peter Paul Rubens who occasionally employed him to reproduce small sketches in a larger format. After the death of Rubens, Jordaens advanced to the position of one of the most admired painters in Antwerp. Like Rubens, Jordaens relied on a warm palette, naturalism, and a mastery of chiaroscuro (the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition) and tenebrism (violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image).
Jordaens painted at least six other renditions of the Adoration of the Shepherds. In this one, the eye is lead to the center of the image not only by the importance of the characters, but the color scheme and use of light and shadow, which in that spot are much stronger and clearer than the rest of the painting.
The Nativity, Noël Coypel, 1670
Noël Coypel (1628 – 1707) was a French painter. He was born in Paris, the son of an unsuccessful artist. He was employed to paint some of the pictures required for the Louvre, and having afterwards gained considerable fame by other pictures produced at the command of the king, he was appointed director of the French Academy at Rome. Noël died in Paris at age 78. His sons were also painters.
Here Mary is seemingly offering her baby to be viewed, perhaps remembering the angel’s words, “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul,” and realizing the Baby is not really hers.
Though Joseph is holding a candle, it is the Baby who lights up the scene.
The Nativity, Noël-Nicolas Coypel, 1728
Noël-Nicolas Coypel belonged to a dynasty of painters. But he was far from attaining the glory enjoyed by his father Noël Coypel, half-brother Antoine Coypel (twenty-nine years his elder) or his nephew Charles-Antoine Coypel, who were directors of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He is famous for his mythological compositions. The Louvre houses his Venus, Bacchus, and Cupid. Coypel did not court favor, and suffered hardship, dying at the age of forty-four.
In this painting again, the source of light is the Baby, beautifully casting light on the elemental details. This painting also has wonderful motion and direction: the straw seems to move in the light that shines from the Baby; you can almost see the motion in Joseph’s adoring gesture; the cow has turned its head towards the Baby; and Mary is as if swaying as she might be singing a lullaby to her baby.
The Nativity, Carle van Loo, 1751
Carle or Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765) was a French subject painter. He was the most famous member of a successful dynasty of painters of Dutch origin, the van Loos. His output includes every category: religion, history painting, mythology, portraiture, allegory, and genre scenes.
This painting is a prime example of van Loo’s simplicity of style and correctness of design, the result of his study of the great Italian masters, which did much to purify the modern French school. The color palette is simple, with essentially one color that stands out, the turquoise is Mary’s gown and the angels’ wings and frock. Here again the Baby is symbolically the source of light.
The Nativity, John Singleton Copley, 1776
John Singleton Copley (1738–1815) was an American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects. His paintings were innovative in their tendency to depict artifacts relating to these individuals' lives.
The first example of an American painter’s interpretation of the Nativity, this work brings in freshness and modernity heretofore unseen. The focal point—Mary with the baby lying on linens— is depicted in white, placed in the light streaming from the upper left-hand corner, while the accompanying details are also in clear focus. New are the dog and the hat worn by the man on the right.
All in all, Copley's work is a delightfully light and airy representation of a scene that had been previously painted with heavy, somber, dark brush strokes.
The Nativity, Arthur Hughes, 1857
Born in London in 1915, Arthur Hughes produced about 700 known paintings and drawings, along with over 750 book and numerous magazine illustrations.
Hughes’ painting of the nativity is decidedly in the illustrator’s style, which seemed to dominate the art world at this time. The picture is unusual in its depiction of Mary as a young adolescent. Here, Hughes shows her undertaking one of her first duties as a mother, wrapping her child in swaddling bands, an act which prefigures his entombment. The apparent tenderness and care with which she carries out her task further reminds us of her youth and, that as a first-time mother, she has much to learn in order to look after the infant Christ. In her bewildering predicament, she is aided by two angels and watched by three others from above. Their presence highlights the fact that she is not alone and that both mother and baby will be watched over by God.
Hughes has used a vivid palette of purple and pinks to paint the celestial figures. Their wings almost burst out of the picture frame creating a sense of dynamism within the composition, but also giving a sense of the cramped, intimate space in which the miracle of Christ's birth took place.
Although Mary, as the central figure, dominates the painting, Hughes draws attention to the Christ child, the most important figure, by crowning him in a nimbus, a style of halo favored in Renaissance paintings. (Birmingham Museums)
The Nativity, Klavdi Vasilievich Lebedev, 1890-91
Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (1862 – 1942) was a major representative of religious Symbolism in Russian art.
I was unable to find any information about the artist or this particular piece of art. Nesterov’s style is a clear stepping away from the classical genre of heavy oil-paints, and thus I suggest that this is done in water-color, due the “thinness” of the texture, even when the color palette darker.
The Nativity, Gari Melchers, circa 1891
Julius Garibaldi Melchers (1860-1932) was an American artist. He was one of the leading American proponents of naturalism.Melchers represents a significant number of early twentieth-century American artists who made a living through their craft and earned critical praise. While they produced an immense body of work, most, like Melchers, are eclipsed in popular memory by such names as John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt.
At seventeen, Melchers enrolled in the Royal Academy of Art in Dusseldorf, Germany, to study figure painting. The curriculum emphasized well-modeled form, hard-edged realism and the finish of the old masters. He later continued his studies in Paris.
The Nativity is the finest example of Melchers’ work in that genre. Gone are the angels and the nimbi; the exaggerated motions or the imagined illuminations from the the Baby: the light around his head is coming from the lantern on the floor by his manger/cradle. The simplicity of the surroundings is striking—almost pitiable.
The Nativity, Robert Anning Bell, 1907
Robert Anning Bell was born in London in 1863. He was known as an architect, painter of altar pieces, an art instructor, and a book designer and illustrator. He also worked on mosaics for the Palace of Westminster.
To me, Bell’s Nativity resembles a wood carving in its angularity, roughness and approximations. The colors are pleasantly muted; only the angel’s gown has a definite color, purple. Somehow the work seems unfinished, yet complete in its mood.
The Nativity, Mainie Jellett, 1940
Mary Harriet Jellett, known as Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) was an Irish painter.
Mainie Jellett studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and in London. She showed precocious talent as an artist in the impressionist style. Later on she encountered cubism and began an exploration of non-representational art.
A deeply committed Christian, Jellett’s paintings, though strictly non-representational, often have religious titles and often resemble icons in tone and palate.
Jellett was an important figure in Irish art history, both as an early proponent of abstract art and as a champion of the modern movement. Her work was often attacked critically, but she proved eloquent in defense of her ideas.
As to the painting Nativity, this abstract seems to be built up from a central “eye” or “heart” in arcs of color, held up and together by the rhythm of line and shape, and given depth and intensity—a sense of abstract perspective—by the basic understanding of light and color.
Behold, The Lamb of God, Walter Rane, b.1949
In my estimation and in harmony with my own perceptions of the Nativity, this piece is perhaps the closest to the reality of the scene. Personally, I also sense there is a subliminal lesson in the title of the work, "Behold, the Lamb of God," which foreshadows the humble majesty of the life of the Savior.
I must say, I think I like Rane's the best among the contemporary renditions!
