Nativity, a theme in art depicting the newborn Jesus with the Virgin Mary and other figures, following descriptions of Christ’s birth in the Gospels and Apocrypha. An old and popular subject with a complicated iconography, the Nativity has been portrayed in a variety of different ways over the centuries.

From the 4th century ce to the 6th century ce

The Nativity was first represented in the 4th century ce, carved on Early Christian Roman sarcophagi, and was later included with other scenes from Christ’s life in monumental decoration of Early Christian basilicas. It was a very important subject for Early Christian art from the 5th century because it emphasized the reality of the Incarnation of Christ and the validity of the Virgin’s newly established (431 ce) title of Theotokos (Greek: “God-Bearer”). The Early Christian version of the Nativity shows the Virgin seated, to emphasize that the birth was painless, and the Child, in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The two, usually depicted with an ox and an ass, are under the roof of a barnlike stable. Usually one or two shepherds, who symbolize the revelation of Christ to the Jews, and often also the Magi—Wise Men from the East who symbolize his revelation to the Gentiles—appear in the scene.

From the 6th century to the 15th century

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By the 6th century another version of the Nativity had appeared, in Syria. It differs from the earlier version, which was retained with some modifications in northwestern Europe, mainly in that it shows the Virgin lying on a mattress, thus ignoring the concept of the painless birth. The Child is again in swaddling clothes in a manger, and the ox and ass are retained, but the stable is located not in a barn but in a cave, as was the custom in Palestine. Angels usually hover above the cave, and St. Joseph sits outside it. The Magi and the shepherds are often present. The announcement of the miraculous birth to the shepherds by an angel and the journey of the Magi may be depicted simultaneously in the background. This version became universal in the East throughout the Middle Ages and in Italy until the late 14th century. Another simultaneous representation—the bathing of the Child by two midwives in the foreground—became standard in Eastern Nativities. It probably derives from Classical scenes of the birth of the god Dionysus and is a prefiguration of Christ’s baptism. As the emblem of a major feast day, this version of the Nativity figured prominently, usually in its most complicated form, in the liturgical iconography of Byzantine church decoration.

In the late 14th century an abrupt transformation of the iconography of the Nativity occurred throughout western Europe, including Italy, and a second major version came into being. This was essentially an adoration; the most important change is that the Virgin is depicted no longer in the aftermath of childbirth but kneeling before the Child, who is now nude and luminous and lies not in a manger but on the ground on a pile of straw or a fold of the Virgin’s mantle. Often Joseph, too, kneels in adoration. Most of the other details, except the ox and ass, are omitted, especially in earlier works. This version, which seems to have spread from Italy, follows in detail—and in fact almost certainly originates with—an account of a vision by St. Bridget of Sweden, an influential 14th-century mystic. Universally adopted in western Europe by the 15th century, this version is widely depicted in altarpieces and other devotional works.

From the Renaissance to the 17th century

In the Renaissance, angels reappeared, and the scene was often combined with the adoration of the shepherds, which had recently developed as a separate theme. The midwives were still included occasionally. In the 16th century the Council of Trent outlawed the midwives, the ox and ass, and the bathing of Christ as ignoble, apocryphal, and theologically unsound (the bathing of the Child is inconsistent with the doctrine of a pure and supernatural birth).

In the 17th century a more prosaic representation reappeared, with the Virgin again reclining and holding the Child. After the 17th century, despite the decline of Christian religious art in general, the Nativity remained an important theme in the popular arts. See also crèche.

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