The 10 best Christmas story paintings (printed in the Guardian 5th December 2015)

From Bruegel to Botticelli, Laura Cumming chooses her favourite depictions of the Christmas story
Laura Cumming (the guardian)
The Census at Bethlehem by Peter Bruegel the Elder, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium,
Brussels

Luke describes the event. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar
Augustus that all the world should be registered. Joseph went to Bethlehem to be registered with
Mary, who was with child. For Bruegel, the event is contemporary, taking place in his native Belgium
in the harshest of winters. Mary and Joseph are just two more poor people trudging through the
freezing air to queue for this ruthlessly imposed bureaucracy. The only thing that distinguishes them
in the general misery and chaos is the proverbial donkey.

The Procession of the Magi by Benozo Gozzoli, Medici Riccardi palace, Florence

Not three kings, so much as 33: a whole cavalcade of the great and good (or the rich and powerful)
wends its way down a steep valley on the way to Bethlehem. Gozzolis fresco, with its deer, hounds
and horses, its hunting and social conversation, could almost have been painted from life; and sure
enough these Magi include a throng of Medici godfathers and their hangers-on. (The artist himself is
among the portraits.) The image commemorates real events the annual Epiphany procession in
15th-century Florence as it tries to make biblical events real for contemporary viewers. Its the high
point of the Magi chapel in Florence.

The Dream of St Joseph by Philippe de Champaigne, National Gallery, London

In the Gospel of Matthew, Mary is pledged in marriage to Joseph when he discovers she is pregnant.
In consternation, he decides to continue with the marriage but with future divorce in mind. But God
sends an angel to Joseph in a dream to explain the divine conception and ask him to name the baby
Jesus. The French painter Champaigne is one of very few artists to depict Josephs story, imagining
his dilemma and this angelic intervention. And just like a figure in a dream, the angel speaks without
words, explaining the mystery entirely in sign language.

The Adoration of the Shepherds by Giorgione, National Gallery of Art, Washington

The mysterious Giorgione left very few works at his premature death, but this one is a masterpiece of
contemplation. The elderly Joseph is deep in prayer, Mary holds a pose of silent worship before the
Christ child, whose hazy face appears so inward-looking. The shepherds, in their ragged clothes, are
speechless and spellbound, but full of love for the baby. They are the first to arrive, the first to
understand what they are seeing, before the rest of the crowd arrives. The scene is very close and
intimate, against the distant Venetian landscape. Not a sheep in sight. By their humility shall you
know the shepherds.

Mary and Joseph on the Way to Bethlehem (Portinari Altarpiece) by Hugo van der Goes, Uffizi
Gallery, Florence

Mary and Joseph are on their way through a rocky landscape. She has climbed down from the
donkey, perhaps afraid of riding down such a perilous, ankle-breaking slope. Joseph, grizzled and
weary, is helping her along with all his loving kindness, his actions (rather than her physical
appearance) suggesting just how pregnant she is. Jesuss earthly father is generally portrayed as
ineffectual but not in this vision, a detail from the famous Portinari Altarpiece in Florence. He is doing
everything he can, as husband and prospective new father, to protect his little family from hardship
and danger.

The Nativity by Federico Barrocci, Prado museum, Madrid

Of all the many thousands of nativity scenes in western art, this one is among the most tenderly
maternal. Mary kneels humbly before her God, but she is equally full of love for her newborn baby.
Mother and child gaze into each others eyes and the whole composition emphasises their mutual
bond. The art of Barrocci, until recently one of the most overlooked of Italian masters, was especially
popular with women in his lifetime and it is not hard to see why from this nativity, in which the radiant
child illuminates the exquisitely loving face of Mary

Adoration of the Magi by Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

More Medici - including Lorenzo and Giuliano, Botticellis patrons appear in varying states of
worship before the newborn Christ. The scene is anything but hallowed and hushed. The Medici are
not all intent on the baby, whose miraculous birth has taken place in a derelict outhouse of yawning
rafters on the brink of collapse. But Botticelli raises the holy family above these queuing Italians and
finds a way to bring the ancient past into the present. He shifts the tense by including himself, on the
extreme right, fixing you with a pressuring gaze how deep is your respect, your love?

Annunciation to the Shepherds by Taddeo Gaddi, church of Santa Croce, Florence

Luke reports that the shepherds were tending their flocks outside Bethlehem when an angel
suddenly appeared, announcing that the saviour has just been born in the town. Medieval painter
Taddeo Gaddi imagines the scene taking place on a steep hill in the middle of the night. Only one of
the shepherds is awake so far, the other hunched like a rock behind him. Sheep and dogs are
beginning to stir too, as the angel speaks from above a shepherd and his flock waking up to the
astonishing news.

The Annunciation by Fra Angelico, Convent of San Marco, Florence

Here is the news, delivered by an angel. The Virgin Mary is pregnant. The son of God is on his way.
In this exquisite painting, by a Florentine monk, the split-second of the telling appears to be the very
moment of conception itself. Mary listens in astonishment, hands crossed over her body as if
receiving a blessing, but also as if protecting the new life there. Her face is a graceful portrait of awe,
bewilderment and emotion: the sudden revelation made visible.

Rest on the Flight to Egypt by Orazio Gentileschi, Birmingham Art Gallery

What a scene: bisected by a rough brick wall, dominated by the donkeys head popping above it,
Gentileschis Rest is a staggeringly strange composition. Joseph is flat out with exhaustion, his
snoring head lolling backwards. The Virgins feet are dirty and she is too tired to cradle the hungry
baby, who looks furtively in our direction. The holy family are fugitives from murderous Herod and his
massacre of the innocents. The nativity scene of a billion Christmas cards is all over now.