"CENSUS IN BETHLEHEM" BY PIETER BRUEGHEL THE ELDER:
"At that time a decree of Emperor Augustus appeared, ordering a census to be taken throughout the world.
This first census took place when Quirinus ruled Syria.
And each one was going to register in their city of origin.
Joseph, who belonged to the family of David, left Nazareth, a city in Galilee, and went to Bethlehem in Judea, the city of David, to register with Mary, his wife, who was pregnant.
While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to be a mother; and Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the shelter."
This is how Luke narrates it in his gospel, but myths and legends are already known to be the equivalent of the broken telephone game, in such a way that from one generation to another the small particle of reality is adorned with more and more layers of imagination.
For this reason, the Nativity scene that this 16th-century Dutch painter portrayed has improbable vegetation, architecture and climate... but what does it matter, the scene is evocative and full of small details that capture our attention, you couldn't ask for more.
It is also a perfect example of the author's great interests: landscapes, traditional portraits of society and religious themes.
In the background, a castle in ruins inspired by Amsterdam can be sensed, while in the foreground we can see María riding the donkey, although the lack of emphasis on her figure, which can hardly be distinguished from the crowd that surrounds her, is striking. , subjected just like them to the rigors of cold and bureaucracy.
"THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI", BY BOSCO:
To talk about the Three Kings we could not ignore the act of delivery of gold, frankincense and myrrh, portrayed by artists such as El Bosco.
This triptych, which you can find in the Prado Museum, is full of symbols that allude to the Old Testament and stands out for its correct perspective, which harmoniously integrates the characters in the foreground (by the way, the one showing the leg would be supposedly the Antichrist) with the landscape in the background, in which we can see from Saint Joseph drying diapers on the left, to a ferocious wolf devouring an unwary on the right.
There is also a very ugly man who looks at Maria's butt through a hole in the wall.
"ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE SHEPHERDS", IN THE PANTHEON OF THE KINGS OF LEÓN:
It decorates the ceiling of the Pantheon of Kings, located in the Basilica of San Isidoro de León.
"ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS", BY MURILLO:
This exceptional work by this Sevillian painter and master of the Baroque is in the Prado Museum.
The Adoration of the Shepherds, an omnipresent scene as an artistic testimony of the most global Festival in the world, Christmas.
It is the window at the head that brings us closer to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in this work from 1655, pure Sevillian baroque naturalism.
Murillo illuminates Mary and her son, and makes the light reach the symbolic lamb that accompanies the shepherds, influenced by Zurbarán's Agnus Dei.
The same light is subtly fixed on the old woman with the basket of eggs, reminiscent of that other woman who fried eggs from her countryman Velázquez's brushes.
The work reflects the words of the evangelists Luke and Matthew about the birth of Jesus, and searches, as usual, for details such as the mule and the ox in the apocryphal gospels.
The solemn Midnight Mass, which is celebrated on the night of December 24 to 25, popularly known as Misa del Gallo, opens the so-called Christmas season for the Catholic Church, which was celebrated for the first time in the year 379 in the city of Constantinople.
In these festivals many customs of the Saturnian festivals survive: Roman festivals in honor of Saturn (god of agriculture), in which banquets, gift exchanges, songs and dances were held (they were a Christmas and a Carnival together), and that They gave the Catholic Church so many headaches in its attempt to distance them from the religiosity of Christian Christmas.
Influenced by the aesthetic ideas of each historical moment, by the social customs of each region, by its personality, and the demands of the clients, artists of all times have reflected Christmas in their work in one way or another.
"MYSTIC NATIVITY", BY SANDRO BOTICCELLI.
Far from any traditional iconographic interpretation, Botticelli's Mystic Nativity is full of mysteries, and like any mystery it has generated rivers of ink.
Attempts have been made to explain the canvas by relating it to the historical circumstances of the city of Florence, with the death of Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent in 1492, the invasion of the French in 1494, and a turn of the century, which generates so many superstitions.
The work is dated 1501, and the preaching against the power and corruption of the papacy of Rome, then in the hands of the Borgias, by the monk Savonarola who was executed in Florence accused of heresy in 1498, colored Florence with Botticelli of reasonable doubts about corruption and sin.
More than a celebration, this interpretation of the Nativity seems to be a warning, a bad omen perhaps inspired by the sermons of Savonarola, who is said to have been close to Botticelli. Based on the Latin inscription at the head of the four in the Apocalypse:
"This painting from the late 1500s, during the turmoil in Italy, I,
Alessandro, I painted it in the middle time after time, according to the XI of Saint John in the second pain of the Apocalypse, in the liberation of the three and a half years of the Devil; later he will be chained in the XII and we will see him [precipitated] as in the present painting»
Painted for private use, his or someone close to him, formally far from the idealization of the Renaissance, the author uses Gothic features to tell the Nativity scene.
The proportions of the Virgin and Child are disproportionate, as are the attitudes of the multiple angels that dance or levitate on or around the portal.
The gray demons hiding on the roads waiting for their opportunity, have been analyzed on many occasions.
It is Botticelli, an author considered by some historians to be a visionary, who undoubtedly always makes one think.
"Adoration of the Magi", BY ALBERTO DURERO:
Alberto Dürer (1471-1528), hispanicization of Albrecht Dürer, was one of the most important artists of the German Renaissance.
He is a painter, philosopher, writer and draws on botany and anatomy.
His patrons include the Fugger banking family, Emperor Maximilian I and Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, and he is known to have had a relationship with Erasmus of Rotterdam who praised him.
In his works, Dürer manifests an obsession with perspective and proportion.
This ambition is manifested in his painting "The Adoration of the Magi" from 1504.
Many medieval components emerge in it, but the space is organized rationally and the architectural details acquire a classicist vision.
This work summarizes Dürer's theories on architecture and its relationship with the human figure.
The painting stands out for the prolific use of colors. The center of attention is made up of the Virgin Mary presenting the Child Jesus to the Magi, who deliver their offerings to the Redeemer.
FROM GLU GLU PET WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A MERRY EVE IN THE COMPANY OF THE FAMILY AND YOUR PETS.
