The Story of Christmas: The Nativity

Federico Barrocci - The Nativity - 1597. Oil on canvas - Height: 134 cm; Width: 105 cm - The Prado, Milan (click photo for larger image) Of all the many thousands of nativity scenes in western art, the one featured here is among the most tenderly maternal. Mary kneels humbly before her God, but she is equally full of love for her newborn baby. Mother and child gaze into each other’s eyes and the whole composition emphasizes their mutual bond.

Federico Barrocci (1535-1612) was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed “Il Baroccio”. His work was highly esteemed and influential, and foreshadows the Baroque artistry of Peter Paul Rubens. He worked first with his father, and was then apprenticed to the painter Battista Franco in Urbino. In 1548 he went off to Rome, where he worked in the famous studio of the day, that of the Mannerist painters, Taddeo Zuccari and Federico Zuccari.

Borrocci was welcomed by Pope Pius IV to aid the beautification of the Vatican Belvedere Palace at Rome, where he painted the Virgin Mary and Child, with several Saints and a ceiling in fresco, representing the Annunciation.

The art of Barrocci, until recently one of the most overlooked of Italian masters, was especially popular with women in his lifetime and it is not hard to see why from this nativity, in which the radiant child illuminates the exquisitely loving face of Mary.

Quote of the Day

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art." -  Paul Cezanne

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.

The Christmas Story: To Bethlehem

Hugo van der Goes - Mary and Joseph on the Way to Bethlehem (Portinari Altarpiece) - Uffizi Gallery, Florence (click photo for larger image) Hugo van der Goes (1440-1482) was one of the most significant and original Flemish artists of the late 15th century. He was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits.

The Portinari Altarpiece, painted in Bruges, was a triptych commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, the manager of the Bruges branch of the Medici Bank. It was intended for the high altar of Sant' Egidio in the church of the Arcispedale of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, which was created in 1288 by his ancestor, Folco Portinari.
On the central panel of the triptych, three shepherds kneel before the infant Jesus. These rustic characters are quite realistic in the scene. The Virgin and the Child are surrounded by Angels and this rare depiction of the adoration of Jesus is likely to have been based on one of the visions of Saint Bridget of Sweden.
In the background, van der Goes created scenes relating to the main theme: on the left panel, Joseph escapes to Egypt with his pregnant wife; on the right panel, the Three Magi travel to Bethlehem.
It's believed that the Portinari Triptych arrived in Florence on 28 May 1483, apparently some years after its completion by van der Goes. The triptych - which depicts the Nativity - portrays Tommaso Portinari's family on the wings; his two young sons Antonio and Pigello can be seen kneeling on the left and his wife Maria di Francesco Baroncelli is shown on the right panel with their daughter Margarita, along with several saints. It seems that this commission was a way that Tommaso, so far from home, could remind people of his civic loyalty.

Mary and Joseph are on their way through a rocky landscape. She has climbed down from the donkey, perhaps afraid of riding down such a perilous, ankle-breaking slope. Joseph, grizzled and weary, is helping her along with all his loving kindness, his actions (rather than her physical appearance) suggesting just how far her pregnancy has advanced. Jesus’s earthly father is generally portrayed as ineffectual, but not in this vision. Here, he is doing everything he can, as husband and prospective new father, to protect his family from hardship and danger.

Did You Know?

The color wheel predates the United States. Considering the US is one of the oldest modern democracies, this is pretty amazing. Sir Isaac Newton invented the color wheel in 1706 by refracting white sunlight into its six colors. The realization that light alone was responsible for color was radical, and the wheel proved especially useful for artists, who could now easily observe the most effective color complementation.