The Nativity

The Nativity

Title

The Nativity

[cda 2014]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 125]

The infant Christ is carried by angels on a white cloth. He turns towards his mother with open eyes and a raised hand. The bundle of straw brought by Joseph has not yet been spread out. A second group of angels, also four in number, appears in a cloud in

The infant Christ is carried by angels on a white cloth. He turns towards his mother with open eyes and a raised hand. The bundle of straw brought by Joseph has not yet been spread out. A second group of angels, also four in number, appears in a cloud in an opening in the timberwork and accompanies the birth with song. Two shepherds look down from the loft as if in abreviated prayer. One of them, dark and spellbound by events, wears a yellow hood, the other, older one, has a cap in his hands. Surprisingly the view from the stable does not show the annunciation in the night, but the city gates by day. With dedication areas of crumbling plaster are repeatedly painted on the stonework and even plaited beards and cobwebs are indicated.

The round faced Virgin bends over the manger with her hands held in an attitude of prayer. Her loose hair is covered by a light, wafting veil with a halo indicated above it.

[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 125, 126, 127]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder (and workshop)

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Domstift Naumburg, revised 2014]
[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 125]

Lucas Cranach the Elder (and workshop)

[cda 2015]

Production date
about 1510 - 1515

Production date

about 1510 - 1515

[Domstift Naumburg, revised 2014]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 76 x 59 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 76 x 59 cm

  • [Schade, in Kunde 2006, 125]

Inscriptions and Labels
  • on the sheet of music at the upper left edge (according to Bergner, Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler Naumburg) [1]: …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • on the sheet of music at the upper left edge (according to Bergner, Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler Naumburg) [1]:

  • 'gloria in exelsis deo m. v. a. mester greif.'

  • [1] Bergner 1903, 166f., 319

  • [Schade, in Kunde 2006, 125]

Owner
Domstift Naumburg
Repository
Domstift Naumburg
Location
Naumburg
CDA ID
DE_DSN_NONE-DSN001
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_DSN_NONE-DSN001/

Provenance

  • the painting 'The Nativity, painted in a frame' was, according to the church inventory from 24.03.1750, located in the cathedral on the pillar next to the organ (Domstiftsarchiv Naumburg, Tit. XIX 9a)

[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 127, 128]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Melzer 2015 B 155
AuthorReinhard Melzer
TitleDer Cranach-Bestand des Gotischen Hauses
Publicationin Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz, ed., Cranach im Gotischen Haus in Wörlitz, Exhib. Cat. Wörlitz
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Pages149-162
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

The depiction is derived from Dürer’s woodcut from the ‚Kleinen Holzschnittpassion‘ (1511). The low-angle view of the scene with a stone arch, steps and open timberwork come from there, the figure of the Virgin also draws essentially on Dürer’s version. Mirror-imaged references and the separation of some elements (like the arch and the steps) do not contradict this. […]

The wooden post that emerges next to Joseph, as well as the angle of the wooden beams above, recall the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ in Gotha. Of the depictions of the Virgin the painting in Copenhagen [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932, 38, No. 44] is closest to the Naumburg picture.

The biblical description only affects the scene with the words ‚pannus‘, which Luther translated as ‚swaddling‘ and ‚praesepium‘ which can be interpreted as either ‚manger‘ or ‚stable‘. Ox and ass, as well as the view of the town are part of the standard repertoire for the nativity scene, whereas the cloth held by the angels is unusual. This appears to be a reference to Christ’s shroud as brilliantly depicted in a woodcut by Hans Baldung Grien.[…]

The squat proportions of the figures and the shape of the shepherds‘ collars as well as the movement of the angel to the right of Christ’s head – he braces his foot against the edge of the vault – have analogies in Cranach’s woodcuts from the year 1509. The painting could be from this period. […]

Originally it would have stood on a Lady altar. Therefore the author’s earlier assumption that it is related to the two wing panels in Dessau, Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie is improbable.[…]

It may seem irrelevant that the main features of the Naumburg painting appear on a signed late work of exceptional detailed execution (Auction catalogue Fischer, Luzern, 2.12.1993, 84f., No. 2155). The delegation of shepherds appears in the middle-ground, complemented by an annunciation in the distance. The group of angels around the child has vanished. The Lutheran perspective has asserted itself in this painting, therefore the Virgin is shown without a halo and the angels remain in the sky. Only the ox and ass together with the Virgin and Joseph are in close proximity of the new born child, who lying naked in a stone trough appears in seemingly grotesque isolation. The dating by Dieter Koepplin of ‚about 1550‘ is accurate. The execution, particularly with respect to the adjustments in relation to the earlier version, suggests the authorship of Lucas Cranach the Younger.

[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 125, 126, 127, 128]

  • The Nativity, about 1510 - 1515

Images

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Technical studies

05. 2011Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Material:

- fluid black medium, brush

Type/Ductus:

- detailed freehand underdrawing

- thin lines

- occasional hatching-strokes and washes

Function:

- relatively binding for the final painted version; lines delineate the main contours and define facial features; occasional representation of volumes with hatching-strokes or washes

Deviations:

- minor alterations made during the painting process to clearly define form; small changes

INTERPRETATION

Atribution:

- Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2015]

  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

2006Technical Examination

Support

- the panel consists of five horizontally aligned planks

[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 128]

Condition Reports

Date2006

The panel consists of five horizontally aligned planks and is visually compromised by losses along the joins. Before 1973 the painting was transferred to a new support and retouched in the conservation studio of the Instituts für Denkmalpflege Halle.

[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 128]

Conservation History

Date1963 - 1973

Before 1973 the painting was transferred to a new support and retouched in the conservation studio of the Instituts für Denkmalpflege Halle.

[Schade, in Kunde 2006, 128]

  • conservation treatment by Institut für Denkmalpflege, Halle

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'The Nativity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_DSN_NONE-DSN001/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'The Nativity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_DSN_NONE-DSN001/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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