Christmas in painting

Great artists such as Fra Angelico, Hieronymus Bosch, Giotto, Boticelli, Leonardo, Tintoretto, Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Velázquez, Zurbarán, Maíno… expressed, each in their own way and style, one of the most transcendental Catholic faiths: the birth of the Son of God, in the time, from the 15th to the 18th century, when there were few people who had an education and knew how to read. Hence the importance of paintings, sculptural groups on the facades of churches and cathedrals, and painting, all means of conveying or reviving faith in believers.

Christmas iconography ranges from the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, the arrival in Jerusalem, the Nativity (or birth of Jesus), the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Kings or Epiphany. Let’s look at some examples.

Fra Angelico, finesse and elegance

We begin with the Annunciation of the Dominican friar, the Florentine Fra Angelico, a panel done in tempera and gold which, in spite of its genius, corresponds to the first phase of the Florentine painter who died in 1455. Therefore he still uses perspective somewhat clumsily, a brief knowledge of anatomy, or the unreal character of architecture which seems like a dream, these are all features of the first Italian Renaissance, while other old elements persist, such as the blue vaults, typical of the last so-called international Gothic, still in force.

And during the Quattrocento, late Gothic artists worked at the same time as more innovative ones such as Masaccio or Donatello. Fra (or Fray) Angelico took the refinement of the former and the realism of the latter, giving his characteristic idealized figures, with barely any volume and bright colors that were also almost flat. His greatest contribution: the finesse and sweetness of his works.

It is composed of two scenes, on the left sin shown by the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise and on the opposite, in the main scene hope, i.e. the moment in which the Archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that she is leaving to be the mother of the Savior.

El Greco, ecstasy and fullness

Adoration of the Kings (1614) by El Greco, painter of Cretan origin who lived and died in Toledo (Spain), is considered his last work. It is a night scene developed in a narrow and irregular space, a kind of cave the lathe where María took refuge with a newborn son on his lap, while Saint Joseph and the three shepherds show the intense devotion of the moment.

The child Jesus is the only focal point of light that illuminates and echoes throughout the scene, affecting the whole group watching him, the group ending with a great company of angels like the firmament. Strong contrasts between light and shadow heighten the drama, without giving up the bright and vivid colors, very Venetian and which influenced El Greco so much.

The spiral composition creates a gentle upward movement that emphasizes the elongation and curvature of the figures, while the unnatural poses energize that feeling of ecstasy that seems to envelop everything, which is a characteristic of what is considered one of the forerunners of modern Art.

Velázquez, monumentality and simplicity

In the same work, Adoration of the Magi, baroque genius dIn the Spanish painting of Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), created during his youth in Seville, the naturalism typical of the period converges, which includes autobiographical elements contributed above all after the discovery of the self-portrait of the painter Francisco Pacheco, – the teacher and father-in-law of the Sevillian – as recognized in Melchior’s figure, so it is assumed that his wife Juana and a few months old daughter Francisca served as models for the Virgin and Child.

A topic approached with surprise simple but effective. The variety of types and human relationships is emphasized, the voluminous bodies that fill the entire composition and are arranged in a very close and direct plane to the viewer, which emphasizes the expressive intensity, the combination of monumentality and intimacy that the author of Las Meninas always achieves. .

Zurbarán, tenderness and dignity

Extremaduran Francisco de Zurbarán (1598 – 1664), another of the greats of the Spanish Baroque, resorts to tenebrist naturalism to paint “The Adoration of the Shepherds”, a scene full of intimacy.

All the characters are enveloped in majesty, a dignity that does not contradict their modest condition. However, the character of the shepherdess offering a basket of eggs stands out, a realistic character that contrasts with the idealization of the main characters.

The figures are endowed with an almost tangible volume, thanks to the light effects applied to them. In order to recreate the night in which Jesus was born, the author creates a dark and mysterious atmosphere, a solemn scene illuminated from the body of the newborn, in relation, as in previous cases, to the idea of ​​the birth of the Savior. like the light of the world..

Rubens, drama and opulence

The Adoration of the Three Wise Men by Peter Paul Rubens, created around 1609 on behalf of the Antwerp city council, is a large-format painting that exudes drama and opulence from all sides, in which the author seems to synthesize everything he learned during his training in Italy. The monumentality of the proportions is also emphasized by the magnificent arrangement of the figures gathered on the Child, located on the left, the main point of the work and the only source of light in the scene, which is projected onto the faces of the Virgins and the wizards.

Despite the overwhelming composition, it is carefully organized, each character is treated individually. The richly colored clothes of the Magi or Balthasar’s jewels emphasize the luxury and baroque style of the procession.

The first figures are reminiscent of the strong bodies of Michelangelo or Caravaggio, a strip to which twenty years later Rubens added another taller one in which he included his own self-portrait: on the right on a horse with a sword and a gold chain, a symbol of the noble status granted to him by Philip IV, emphasizing that was, in addition to being a painter, polyglot, rich, also a diplomat at the court of the King of Spain.

Maíno, the “Spanish Caravaggio”

The Dominican friar Fray Juan Bautista Maíno (1569-1649), one of the greats of Baroque painting, but also one of the most unknown, was educated in Rome, where he became acquainted with Caravaggio’s work. “There was no painter closer to Roman Caravaggism and naturalism that was as brilliant as Maíno, which is why, due to his great Italian influence, he can be considered a ‘rara avis’ within Spanish painting,” summarizes curator and art historian, Leticia Ruiz.

In The Adoration of the Shepherds and The Adoration of the Wise Men, he maintains a vision close to the viewer, a careful composition that, despite its very spatial nesting, serves to heighten the emotionality that the moment demands. It is a counterpoint to the previous one, Maíno retains his strong drawing together with more intense color and contrasting light, but now immortalizes himself by painting a self-portrait behind him, covered with a Renaissance hat, also in the manner of an Italian master.

A scene in which rich clothing abounds with figures of the Three Wise Men, a whole array of fabrics and silks on every side, exquisitely worked, both in color and texture, showing that he is the son of a family of cloth merchants. Milanese origin, which reveal that he was a great connoisseur of fabrics, in front of whom all that was missing was to touch them.

Caravaggio or the best baroque

And finally, The Adoration of the Shepherds (1609) by Caravaggio from the Regional Museum of Messina (Italy), a tenebrist work where the beeches have nothing to do with the mysticism of the previous ones, an intimate work of great humility and poverty for what uses a very dark environment, with light on the main characters. It is about a scene set in a gloomy and poor stable where the Virgin Mary is half lying down hugging a child, an impressive dark image that gives way to a new genre that presents the sacred protagonists with so much modesty, with so much realism, that they can hardly be seen, distinguishing them from the others.