The Nativity
Juan de Flandes·c. 1508/1519
Historical Context
Juan de Flandes's Nativity from around 1508-19 belongs to the same altarpiece series as his Annunciation, depicting the birth of Christ in the Flemish manner that combined precise domestic observation with devotional warmth. The Nativity — the stable setting, the kneeling parents, the infant Christ in the manger, the worshipping angels — was the most intimately human subject in Christian narrative and the one that required the painter to balance theological significance with domestic naturalism. Juan de Flandes's treatment reflects the Flemish tradition's emphasis on the sacred scene's human warmth, finding in the domestic reality of birth the condescension of divine love to human fragility.
Technical Analysis
The oil on panel features Juan de Flandes's characteristic Netherlandish precision with luminous nocturnal lighting, delicate rendering of the Christ Child, and careful attention to the architectural and natural setting.
Provenance
Altarpiece of the "capilla mayor (main chapel)", church of San Lázaro, Palencia, commissioned c. 1508, until c. 1945.[1] Arcadio Torres Martín, Palencia, 1950-1951.[2] Acquired c. 1952 by (Frederick Mont, New York);[3] purchased 11 February1953 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] The commission was made by Don Sancho de Castilla. See Jan V.L. Brans, "Juan de Flandes, pintor de la Reina y de Castilla," _Clavileño_ 4, no. 21 (1953): 32 for the state of San Lázaro and the cessation of services there shortly after September 1945. [2] In 1950 and 1951, Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann saw six panels from the San Lázaro altarpiece--_The Annunciation_ and _The Nativity_ and the four panels now in the Prado--in the house of Sr. Torres Martín in Palencia; this information was given in conversations with Martha Wolff of 3 February 1984 and 24 July 1984. [3] In 1952 all four panels now in the Gallery (1961.9.22-.25) were with Frederick Mont in New York; see letter of 28 October 1952 from Chandler R. Post to Mont in NGA curatorial files. Mont refers to having bought the pictures in Spain in a letter dated 16 April 1953 to Wilhelm Valentiner (Valentiner Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: microfilm reel no. 2143; copies in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2253).
