The Story of Christmas: Census at Bethlehem

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Census at Bethlehem - 1566 - Oil on panel - 116 cm × 164.5 cm (46 in × 64.8 in) - Royal Museum of Fine Arts - Brussels, Belgium (click photo for larger image)Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting. An artist known for his landscapes and peasant scenes, he was a pioneer in making both subject the focus in his large paintings.

The most widely known and traditional Bible story of Christmas is told in the Gospel of St. Luke 2, 1-5:

“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered... So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.”

For Bruegel, the event is contemporary, taking place in his native Belgium in the harshest of winters. The painting shows Bethlehem as a Flemish village in winter at sundown. A group of people is gathered at a building on the left, having their details taken down by a scribe. A sign bearing the Habsburg double-headed eagle is visible on the building. 

Mary and Joseph are just two more poor people trudging through the freezing air to queue for this ruthlessly imposed bureaucracy. The only thing that distinguishes them in the general misery and chaos is the proverbial donkey. 

This is a rare subject in previous Netherlandish art. The artist’s son and his studio made dozens of copies of the painting after his father's death, one of which was sold at auction for $10 million in 2013. Another copy, dated from 1610, is also at Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.