Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Nativity (recto)
Unknown Artist
c. 1430
Medium
ink, tempera and gold on vellum
Dimensions
17 × 12.5 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
Accession Number
2014.23.a
About this artwork
Representing God's entry into the world, the Nativity remains one of medieval painting's most poignant Christian images. In the Gospels, only Matthew and Luke directly described this event. Perhaps the brevity and absence of detail in these texts allowed artists to devote so much creativity to amplifying the Christmas story. This miniature's simplicity makes it compelling. Only the three principals—Mary, Joseph, and the newly born Christ Child—appear in the scene. The Virgin kneels before an ele...