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Details / Information for The Nativity

The Nativity

c. 1485–90

Gerard David

(Netherlandish, 1450/60–1523)
Culture
Flanders, Bruges
Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
Framed: 102.5 x 76 x 7.5 cm (40 3/8 x 29 15/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 85.2 x 59.7 cm (33 9/16 x 23 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1958.320
Public Domain
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Location
112 Northern Renaissance
Print

Description

The nativity was one of the most frequently depicted subjects in western art. The event marks the entrance of Christ into the world and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. In the distance an angel announces the birth of Christ to the shepherds tending their flocks. One shepherd is already at the stable adoring the Christ child. In the background, the cityscape represents Jerusalem, where Christ would be crucified, represented here as a northern medieval city. Only Matthew and Luke describe Christ’s nativity in the Gospels, which led medieval writers and artists to amplify the event. Some scholars have suggested that the head of Joseph is a donor portrait. Gerard David was born in Oudewater, now located in Utrecht. He spent his mature career in Bruges, where he was a member of the painters’ guild. Upon the death of Hans Memling in 1494, David became Bruges’s leading painter of devotional panels. He was also a manuscript illuminator.
A vertically oriented oil painting depicts a Nativity scene in a ruined stone structure with people with light skin tones. Mary kneels on the right in a black cloak, hands pressed together. Joseph kneels opposite her in a red robe. Between them, a radiant, nude infant lies on the ground. Two small angels kneel in the foreground, and another man kneels to our left. An ox and donkey watch, while a cityscape fills the background.

The Nativity

c. 1485–90

Gerard David

(Netherlandish, 1450/60–1523)
Flanders, Bruges

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