Nativity (Christus)

The Nativity, Petrus Christus, c. 1460s. Oil on wood, 127.6 x 94.9cm (50.2 x 37.4in), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

The Nativity is a c. 1460s oil-on-wood Early Netherlandish painting by Petrus Christus, considered one of his more important pieces. The nativity scene is surrounded and enclosed by a painted archway – made to appear sculpted – filled with groups of figures symbolizing that the birth of Jesus Christ is a progression in the "Fall and Redemption of humankind".

Christus was influenced by the first generation of Netherlandish painters, especially Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. Here he displays the simplicity and naturalism which characterizes the art of the period. The archway as a framing device is a motif Rogier van der Weyden often used, which Christus may have borrowed from van der Weyden's Miraflores Altarpiece. Maryan Ainsworth of the Metropolitan Museum in New York describes Christus' Nativity as immensely complex. The need for Jesus's absolution and redemption, caused in the past by Adam and Eve's sins and shown above on the arch, will begin with the Christ child's birth, depicted in the nativity below.

Description and iconography

Christus placed the holy figures on holy ground in the center of the pictorial space. Mary, mother of Jesus, Saint Joseph, the Christ Child, and four angels are depicted in an area partitioned by the archway at the front and the wall at the rear. The shed's roof trusses above form a series of triangles; these are reflected in the pictorial space below with lines connecting the base of the pedestals to the roof crossbeam, encompassing the Holy Family, and a similar pattern, yet inverse, going from the crossbeam down past Joseph's staff. According to Lawrence Steefel, "the detail participates in an almost emblematic pattern of repeated triangles which establish a rhyme scheme above and below, of roof structure and figure disposition."

Background detail (with crackle pattern apparent) showing a 15th-century Netherlandish town with two domed structures that symbolize Jerusalem

Mary and Joseph are rendered as common burghers or peasants of the city of Bruges. They are clothed in plain contemporary garb, emphasized by Joseph's simple clogs, which he has removed from his feet as he stands on holy ground. Mary's features, according to Maryan Ainsworth, show a softness and sweetness more characteristic of Christus' later paintings and remarkably similar to the Mary in his Madonna of the Dry Tree. Four shepherds dressed in 15th-century clothing lean against the back wall of the barn chatting amiably. The background shows what appears to be a typical 15th-century Netherlandish town, although the two domed structures in the center likely symbolise Jerusalem, and thus Christ's Passion.

Rogier van der Weyden's c. 1440s Miraflores Altarpiece has a similar archway motif.

Netherlandish painters often created spatial and temporal boundaries between the earthly and heavenly spheres through the use of frames and arches. In this work, the archway is filled with seemingly carved biblical scenes, a motif borrowed from van der Weyden. If Christus's Nativity was painted in the 1440s or 1450s then he probably imitated the earlier painter's Miraflores Altarpiece. Charles Sterling, however, thinks it more likely he imitated van der Weyden's c. 1455 Altar of St. John, which wasn't completed until after Rogier's return from Italy in the 1450s. The corner spandrels on the archway each show a warrior, one signifying anger, the other revenge, representing the strife and sin that was to end after Christ's advent.

The arch further contains groups of figures representive of scenes from the Book of Genesis, incuding the Fall of Man and Original Sin, thereby pointing to the reason for Christ's birth. The archivolt contains six biblical scenes – two showing Adam and Eve and four of Cain and Abel. The first depicts the expulsion from paradise followed by a scene showing Adam tilling the soil. These are followed by the Cain and Abel scenes: their sacrifice to God; Cain slaying Abel; God appearing to Abel; and Cain founding his race. Below are two pillars. Adam stands atop the left one and Eve atop the right; they are naked, similar to the Adam and Eve on the far left and right panels of Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece. At the base of each pillar crouches a figure holding the weight on its shoulders and preventing it from falling.

The painting is rich with Christian iconography. Its setting represents the Mass – the angels are clothed in eucharistic vestments but none wear the celebrant's chasuble, which suggests Christ is the priest. The shed's roof has been described as a ciborium over an altar, and a later addition to the painting, perhaps in the 1600s, since removed, was a paten on which the infant lay, more clearly showing Jesus as the Eucharistic host. What appears to be a tuft of grass grows on the center truss, directly above the holy figures and in line with the infant's body. Steefel writes the positioning and the nature of the small shrub shows that in this painting Christus followed a program of disguised iconography. The tuft of grass adds to the naturalistic, rustic setting. It also symbolizes the tree of life, and perhaps Christus' connection to the "Confraternity of the Dry Tree".

Dating and condition

Nativity, Petrus Christus, c. 1450, Groeningemuseum, Bruges

Art historians are uncertain about the exact dating of the Nativity; Ainsworth thinks it is almost certainly one of his later paintings. She bases this on its use of perspective, and its assimilation of van Eyck's and van der Weyden's influence. She considers it, along with his Kansas City Holy Family, to be two of the more important pieces in his recognised oeuvre. His earlier Nativity (probably 1450s) lacks certain stylistic elements found in this work, though it too shows an ability to handle central perspective.

The work has suffered paint loss particularly in the areas where the wood panels were joined, and in various parts of the crackle pattern, especially around Joseph's shoulder. Mary's robe has been overpainted, perhaps to restore more extensive paint loss. The paint layers and underlying support are considered to be in generally good condition. Infrared reflectography has revealed an underdrawing with series of intersecting lines.

Provenance

Given the painting's large dimensions (127.6 x 94.9 cm, 50.2 x 37.4 in), it was probably meant for an altarpiece. It appears to have been intended as a single standalone panel rather than the centerpiece to a triptych. At least half of Christus' patrons were Italian or Spanish, and he often changed his style to suit their desire. The Nativity may have been commissioned by a Spanish or Iberian family, and might have been a single piece in a retable which would have consisted of multiple panels, paintings and sculptures.

The painting is exhibited in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It was bought in December 1936 from the Duveen Brothers by the Mellon Charitable Trust who bequeathed it to the gallery the following year. Previous owners include Señora O. Yturbe of Madrid, and Franz M. Zatzenstein of Berlin. Zatzenstein founded the Matthiesen Gallery in Berlin; he sold the painting to the Duveen brothers in 1930.

Gallery

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  The left archway shows Adam on a pedestal below carved scenes from Genesis.
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  Two angels in vestments kneel in adoration to the left of Mary.
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  Angels in vestments adoring the Christ child
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  Detail of the right archway showing Eve on a pedestal, eating forbidden fruit

Sources

• Ainsworth, Maryan. Petrus Christus. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1994). ISBN 978-0-81096-482-2
• Ainsworth, Maryan. "The Business of Art: Patrons, Clients and Art Markets". Maryan Ainsworth, et al. (eds.) From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998). ISBN 0-87099-871-4.
• Birkmeyer, Karl M. "The Arch Motif in Netherlandish Painting of the Fifteenth Century: A Study in Changing Religious Imagery". The Art Bulletin, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Jun. 1961), p. 103
• Chapuis, Julien. "Early Netherlandish Painting: Shifting Perspectives". Maryan Ainsworth, et al. (eds.), From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998). ISBN 0-87099-871-4
• Steefel, Lawrence. "An Unnoticed Detail in Petrus Christus' Nativity in the National Gallery, Washington". The Art Bulletin, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Sep., 1962), pp. 237-238
• Silver, Larry. "Early Northern European Paintings". Bulletin (St. Louis Art Museum), New Series, Vol. 16, No. 3, (1982), pp. 1–47
• Sterling, Charles. "Observations on Petrus Christus". The Art Bulletin, Volume 53, No. 1, March 1971

External links

• National Gallery of Art