Crib Guide: in Search of the First Christmas-Card Nativity

THE GUARDIAN
By Jonathon Jones

Geertgen's Nativity at Night. Photograph: The Art Archive

UNITED KINGDOM---Recently, I started wondering: when was the first Noel in art? Botticelli's Mystic Nativity, a popular choice for Christmas cards that hangs in London's National Gallery, was painted half a millennium ago. But what is the world's oldest nativity scene? Where can you find the grandfather of all Christmas cards? So it was in Byzantium that sensitive, warm, human images of the nativity first appeared. So the simplest answer to my question is disappointing: aspects of the nativity have been depicted ever since there were Christians. Like the Magi following that star, this beautiful artistic tradition came from the east and was gratefully received by Europeans who have loved these winter pictures ever since. What a gift. [link]