The Nativity

Titles

The Nativity	[cda 2023]
The Adoration of the Shepherds	[Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 1963, 5, no. 13]

Painting on beech

Medium

Painting on beech

[Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 1963, 5, no. 13]

Set in a simple architectural structure with a single opening in the back wall the scene shows the infant Christ in the foreground wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a stone manger. At the centre of the composition the Virgin kneels before her child and is joined further to the left by three shepherds. An ox and ass munch hay contentedly on the right where Joseph also enters the scene. Behind the figures a throng of small angels is depicted in a cloud. Through the opening in the wall the viewer is shown the preceding event of the annunciation to the shepherds.

[cda 2023]

Attributions: Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder	[E. Buchner, Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 1963, 5, no. 13]; 'L Cranach d. Ä. ?' handwritten note (not by M.J. Friedländer) on the back of a photograph in his photo archive [rkd online, accessed 06.09.2023]
Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop	"Werkstattbeteiligung" (workshop participation) [K. Löcher, Exhib. Cat. Bregenz 1965, no. 25]

Production dates: about 1530 - 1535
after 1537

Production dates

about 1530 - 1535	[E. Buchner, Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 1963, 5, no. 13] [rkd online, accessed 06.09.2023]
after 1537	? [cda 2023]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 37.5 x 57 cm (inverted in the catalogue)

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 37.5 x 57 cm (inverted in the catalogue)
[Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 1963, 5, no. 13]

Signature / Dating: Fragmentary artist's insignia on the side of the crib: serpent (with dropped wings?)

Signature / Dating

Fragmentary artist's insignia on the side of the crib: serpent (with dropped wings?)

Inscriptions and Labels: None

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

None

Owner: Private Collection
Repository: Private Collection

CDA ID: PRIVATE_NONE-P609
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P609/

Provenance

in the collection of Joseph Baron von Elst, Vienna, Rome, Lisbon and Geneva, Jan. 1947 (according to a handwritten note by M.J. Friedlander on the back of a photograph in his photo archive: 'v.d. E.[lst?] / I. 47'
[rkd online, accessed 06.09.2023]
in the Kisters collection, Kreuzlingen (1963 - ?)
[Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 1963, 5, no. 13]

Exhibitions

Nuremberg 1963, no. 13
Bregenz 1965, no. 25

Literature

Reference on page

Catalogue Number

Figure / Plate

Exhib. Cat. Bregenz 1965

025

Fig. 10

Author	Oscar Sandner
Title	Meisterwerke der Malerei aus Privatsammlungen im Bodenseegebiet
Place of Publication	Bregenz
Year of Publication	1965

Show Literature

Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 1963

013

Pl. 65

Editor	Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Title	Sammlung Heinz Kisters. Altdeutsche und altniederländische Gemälde
Place of Publication	Nuremberg
Year of Publication	1963

Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

The fragmentary signature suggests that it was created after 1537.

[cda 2023]

The Nativity, about 1530 - 1535

Images

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/PRIVATE_NONE-P609/ (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/PRIVATE_NONE-P609/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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