The Nativity, ca. 1500

About the Work

As told in the Gospel of Luke, Mary and two angels worship the newborn Christ lying on a bundle of straw. Joseph, standing behind the Virgin, holds a candle representing the earthly light that—according to the vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden—was outshone by the divine light of the son of God. As a symbol of the “Old Covenant”, which was now a thing of the past, the decayed Temple of Solomon forms the “stable” of Bethlehem. Two shepherds peer in through a round-arched opening, having received tidings of Christ’s birth (scene in the background).