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Miniature
The Nativity - Simon Bening (Bruges, 1483/1484-1561)
c. 1520-1530

About the Item

(76 x 45 mm.) Set within a gold bar border with brackets at the upper corners, in the foreground half-length figures of Mary and Joseph with hands joined gaze down at the newborn Christ Child, rays emanating from his body. Two angels look on, while in the background appear an ox and an ass, all within the ruins of a barn with a column resting against the far wall. The miniature is trimmed to the border with minor flaking to Mary's right eye (light wear). This extremely accomplished small-scale miniature, previously unknown and unrecorded, is by the hand of Simon Bening (1483/4-1561), "the last great illuminator of the Flemish school" (Kren, 2003). Here he provides a typically dramatic "close-up view" of the Nativity, which bears close relationship to his rendering of the subjects in masterpieces such as the Chester Beatty Rosarium and the Stein Quadryptich. Judith Testa writes of Bening's "highly refined and personal style", including "figures with emotionally expressive faces" and "the use of compact dramatic, carefully thought-out compositions", all of which is evident here. The focal point of the Nativity scene is Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child, who occupy the foreground of the miniature. There are still many stylistic elements which are present in the Chester Beatty miniatures of the Nativity and Adoration of the Kings. The derelict stable with remnants of a thatched roof and brick walls is closely comparable, as are the models for the angels and the ox and the ass. The pillar which dominates and divides the Chester Beatty scene is now moved to the back resting in the corner. Joseph is undoubtedly the same facial model and his blue cowl curls around his neck in exactly the same way as in the Chester Beatty miniatures. One of Bening's most significant artistic achievements was his development of the "close-up narrative", used in the Chester Beatty Rosarium, the Stein Quadriptych, and miniatures in Books of Hours. He created images that would induce the reader to meditate emphatically upon the lives of Jesus Christ and Mary...to foster not just an intellectual understanding of the events but also a personal and emotional indentification with them (Testa, 1986, p. 68). Often transforming time-worn compositions from earlier Ghent-Bruges illuminations and revitalizing the faces of the actors to convey individual character, these emotionally affective images function as aids to devotion. Bening completed a number of miniature suites for use in small-scale Books of Hours, Rosariums, and other devotional manuscripts, similar to the one in which this miniature were once inserted, many for the Spanish market. Some of these include: Rosary Psalter (87 x 58 mm.; Boston Public Library, MS Med. 35, 12 miniatures; Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 257 a&b, 2 miniatures); two Miniature Books of Hours (74 x 56 and 80 x 60 mm.; New York, Morgan Library M.451 and M. 307); Imhof Prayerbook. (90 x 62 mm.; London, Christie's Arcana sale 6 July 2011, lot 26). No sister leaves of the Nativity (and Presentation) have yet come to light. Compare however the small-scale miniatures, also from an Hours, from the collection of Bernard H. Breslauer in New York (see Voelkle and Wieck, 1992): Provenance: Early ink numeration "3" on verso. From a Spanish Private Collection.

Creator:
Miniature
Creation Year:
c. 1520-1530
Condition:
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: G1203119818

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