Nativity
Nativity
- animal
- religion
- Christianity
- angel
- music
- cow
- Old Master
- Northern European, Flemish
Early Netherlandish paintings are frequently of an intimate scale, intended for private devotional practice, rather than commissioned by the Church or State for public display and worship as is more often the case in Italian Renaissance art. This is manifestly true of this small nativity scene, done on panel, a support frequently used by early Netherlandish artists active in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Devotional images such as this one were meant to encourage meditation through an appeal to the senses, allowing the worshipper to identify with the beatific yet melancholy Virgin Mary, as she gazes upon the Son of God. As is typical of Netherlandish art, there is an abundance of attention paid to fine detail, as in the texture of Mary’s cloak, and the fantastically colored wings of the angels who have appeared to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The sound of celebration is registered in the angels’ open mouths and the roll of music held by the angels hovering up above. The artist implies through their down cast eyes that Mary and Joseph cannot see this heavenly assembly, but perhaps, like us, can feel their presence.
This panel picture can reasonably be ascribed to the circle of the highly successful panel painter, Gerard David, who flourished in the city of Bruges, where he found a ready clientele as it was a cultural crossroads between Italy, Spain, England, and the German territories. David, who may have also worked as a manuscript illuminator, readily assimilated the elegant courtly style of the older artist, Hans Memling, the dominant painter of Bruges. Our painting seems to reflect David’s late style, with its Italianate sfumato effects in the rendering of the faces and the intricate play of light throughout.