Nativity

Maker Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833 - 1898)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Date1887

Mediummatte opaque paint, with gold paint, on two joined sheets of paper, mounted to cloth, stretched over a strainer

Dimensions56 3/4 × 23 1/8 in. (144.1 × 58.7 cm.) frame: 65 3/8 × 32 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (166.1 × 82.6 × 7 cm.)

Descriptionsee also 2000.5.1983a and 2000.5.2115

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from an anonymous donor and gift of Dr. Charles H. Strub and Mrs. John Wilson, by exchange

Status

Not on view

Label TextThe Nativity is Burne-Jones’s finished study for a stained glass window that was designed for St. Philip’s Cathedral in Birmingham, the artist’s hometown. The composition is divided in two by the cave surrounding the Holy Family, which separates them from the angels and shepherds above. The nearly monochromatic palette of this study, rendered in deep blues and greens, enhances the contemplative mood of the subject. Gold paint, signifying holy light, adds to the mysticism of the scene (2022).

Object number2017.20