by Iolanda Olivieri and Angela Vicini Mastrangeli
Images of the Nativity in Engravings from the 16th to the 19th Centuries
The Nativity is one of the themes that has enjoyed the greatest fortune and diffusion in the field of figurative arts, lending itself to sacred representations of both an official and canonical nature and of intimate and family devotion, the fruit of different sensibilities and cultures, but always imbued with a sense of mystery and magic.
Its iconographic setting has been widely studied with the interpretation of the related historical-theological and figurative problems: analysis of the sources, spatial-temporal correlations, hierarchy of characters, psychology of attitudes and so on. The representative moment, in addition to drawing on apocryphal and non-apocryphal texts, also collects elements of tradition, adding new ones in relation to the eras, fashions, ideologies, patronage and introducing episodes of a non-canonical nature.
sources
Historical data are very scarce, since in reality we can only rely on the source of the Gospels, essentially those of Luke, who tells us about the birth and the announcement to the shepherds (2, 1-20), and Matthew, who tells us about the adoration of the Magi (2, 1-12).
But basic texts are also the apocryphal Gospels of the infancy, the Pseudo-Matthew, the Protoevangelium of James, which are proposed above all as an integration of what is not said in the canonical Gospels, thus presenting numerous indications that have served to expand the iconography of the Nativity. With regard to the temporal placement of the event, the date of December 25 was chosen, the day on which the pagan world celebrated the birth of Mithras “Sole Invitto”, a cult originating from the Eastern world that, starting from Aurelian, had had a very large diffusion in the Western Empire.
The birth of Christ, the sun that brings new life, was therefore superimposed on the cult of Mithras, making a significant transfer into the Christian myth of a series of chronologically previous contents, but accepted for syncretism of meanings. The anniversary, falling at the time of the winter solstice, was also linked to the popular expectation of the natural alternation of the seasons. In fact, on the night between the 24th and the 25th it was customary to light large bonfires around which people awaited the rising of the sun that with its power would make the earth fertile, a tradition that has remained in some areas of the south still with a strong peasant connotation, where on Christmas night bonfires are lit in the church squares to warm the newborn child.
Pierre Louis Surugue (1710-1772) Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)
Nativity
” Or avvenne che, mentre essi erano là, si compirono i giorni in cui essa doveva partorire, e partorì il suo figlio primogenito, lo avvolse in pannolini e lo depose in una mangiatoia, perché non vi era posto per loro nell’albergo.” (Luca 2,6)
The rigidly hieratic early Christian representations show only the Madonna and Child, sometimes a prophet pointing to the star, sometimes the Magi, but substantially the Nativity is presented as a rite outside of space, based on a philological reduction conditioned by the reticence of the Gospels on the physical space of the Nativity.
In the Middle Eastern context, starting from the 6th century, the traditional Byzantine iconography was established: the Madonna lies stretched out at the foot of a mountain in which there is a cave that houses the Child, the ox and the donkey. The mountain with the cave has been interpreted as a symbol of the mother earth, as the mountain of the crucifixion, as the cave of burial and the manger is often a stone urn, or cradle-sepulchre. After the middle of the 2nd century, the Protoevangelium of James, Justin, Origen, indicating that in his time it was still possible to visit it, and Saint Jerome speak of a stable inside a cave. It is always present in the iconography of the origins, becoming the fundamental and characteristic element that in 1223 will materialize in the first representation of the nativity scene of Saint Francis in Greccio.
In the Western world, however, the image of the Madonna kneeling and adoring next to the child, derived from medieval devotion, is predominantly used.
From the fourteenth century onwards, the iconography of the hut definitively asserts itself, which is inserted into the landscape element or, starting from Humanism, into a scenography of grandiose ruined factories where the remains of the magnificence of the past mark the collapse of paganism. The seed of Christianity grows like a plant from the ruins of Roman times and the Madonna sits with her son on a column drum as if on a triumphal throne, celebrating the victory over paganism, but at the same time configuring the Renaissance meaning of ideal continuity of the Christian message with the previous tradition.
The ox and the donkey are not mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, which also speaks of a manger. Origen mentions it by connecting it, like Pseudo-Matthew, with the verse from Isaiah (1.3) “The ox has recognized its owner and the donkey its master’s manger”: the ox and the donkey therefore initially symbolize the people who come to adore Jesus, but over the centuries they will acquire a simple realistic dimension.
from Marten de Vos. Adorazione dei pastori (particolare)
Adoration of the Shepherds
“Vi erano dei pastori in quella stessa regione, che passavano la notte all’aperto, facendo la guardia al loro gregge. Un angelo del Signore …disse loro:”…Oggi nella città di Davide è nato un salvatore che è il Cristo Signore…” Ed essi andarono in fretta e trovarono Maria, Giuseppe e il bambino adagiato nella mangiatoia… ” Luca (2, 8 – 16)
Here two moments are narrated: the angel’s announcement and the adoration of the shepherds; the latter usually has a prominent iconographic role, with the announcement usually being relegated to a background landscape, often hilly for perspective reasons, which indicates not only the minor importance of the episode, but also the temporal space preceding that of the main scene. The entire narration offers the pretext for rustic-pastoral landscape representations.
The shepherds are depicted playing bagpipes, flutes, syringes and one carries a lamb on his shoulders, a survival of the early Christian theme of the Good Shepherd; sometimes they are accompanied by women who bring the Holy Family the gifts of daily life (eggs, milk, fruit, bread).
The Madonna is kneeling in an adoring position and Saint Joseph is often standing in a subordinate lateral position. The Child, lying naked in the manger, is the source of light in the scene, an element based on the Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden who, in the mid-14th century, claimed that the Child’s splendor at birth obscured every other light present, even the light of the candle that Saint Joseph held in his hand, a detail that is frequently found in Flemish iconography, offering artists the opportunity for new lighting solutions. The Adoration of the Shepherds symbolizes the promise of the kingdom of God addressed first to the poor and the most modest strata of society. The spontaneous homage of the people is experienced in an almost equal dialectical relationship with the Holy Family, with whom shepherds and farmers share the poverty of the environment and a precarious social situation, but this does not shake faith in the recognition of the King-Lord, but rather exalts as absolutely natural his choice to manifest himself precisely among the humble of his people.
In Western art, the two main moments of the Nativity, the Adoration of the Shepherds and that of the Magi, are only exceptionally brought together in a single representation. Indeed, over the centuries the two representations have become increasingly distinct, with a specific emphasis being given to the Nativity and another to the Adoration of the Magi.
Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) Adoration of the Magi (detail)
Adoration of the magi
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east arrived… And behold, the star that they had seen in the east preceded them, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great joy; and when they came into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they fell down and worshiped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. .” Matteo (2, 1-11)
The term of Persian origin “magi” indicates the court soothsayers and astrologers who perpetuated the ancient Chaldean tradition in Mesopotamia, but also the members of the priestly caste that looked after the cult of Mithras, which is why in the catacomb and early Christian representations the Magi of the Gospel wear the robes of the priests of Mithras and the typical Phrygian cap. They are therefore wise men, astronomers, astrologers, priests, but they are not kings, a connotation that they will assume only from the 7th century in connection with the messianic interpretation of Old Testament prophetic verses. Their names will begin to be cited from around 590, the time of the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy. Their number has fluctuated from two to six, even twelve, but in the representations it has often been suggested by reasons of iconographic symmetry, later settling on three as a number linked to theological symbolism. The entire episode however has a high allegorical value. The young Melchior, king of the Persians, the mature Balthazar, Moorish king of the Arabs, the elderly Gaspar, king of the Indies, the most authoritative, the one who prostrates himself before the Child and in whom the features of the person who commissioned the sacred representation are usually portrayed, can symbolize the three ages of life, the three races (Semitic, Japetic and Hamitic) or the three known parts of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa).
Jacques Bellange (1594-1638) Adoration of the Magi (detail)
Matthew has them come from the East, that is, from Transjordan and the Arabian Peninsula, bringing gifts of gold, incense and myrrh, to which the symbolic values of the royalty, divinity and humanity of Christ will be attributed (myrrh as signum sepulturae). The comet is usually present in iconography, the guiding star in which it has been sought to recognize an unlikely astronomical and temporal reference, while it is certainly an Old Testament reference to the coming of the Messiah: “Out of Jacob comes a star, out of Israel a scepter stands” (Num. 24,17), a materialized symbol of the spirit of God, of the divine light that guides in spiritual darkness.
In the Adoration of the Magi, a sign of the deference of the powerful towards the Messiah-King, the King of the nations, and of the submission of temporal power to the authority of the Church, the iconographic tradition of the Roman and Byzantine imperial age of the scheme of triumphs and processions of barbarian and oriental kings bearing tributes of submission to the emperor is also present. It is the representation preferred by the aristocratic class, frequently accompanied by courtly genre scenes; the clothing and objects follow the fashion of the period with decorative exuberance and the composition is charged with celebratory intent, lending itself to containing portraits of family members and courtiers of the noble patrons in the processions. In fact, the scene rarely has an intimate dimension: the Madonna is no longer seen kneeling in adoration, but regally seated with her blessing son in her arms in the act of receiving the homage of the Three Wise Men, two of whom are at the sides of the scene, while the third, necessarily, assumes a subordinate position, an emblematic case of conflict between religious tradition and the demands of compositional symmetry.
[Images and text are from
Iolanda Olivieri – Angela Vicini Mastrangeli, In the Nativity Scene. Images of the Nativity in Engravings from the 16th to 19th Centuries , Rome, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1987, catalogue of approximately three hundred engravings and illustrated texts from Casana, exhibited in the Monumental Hall of the library on the occasion of Christmas 1987.]