Nativity of Christ

Around 1520, when this was painted, the Bible's plain stable had long since turned, in German art, into a crumbling ruin, a sign that the old world was giving way to a new one. Altdorfer went further and made it a winter night. A thin cover of fresh snow lies on the ground and on the broken brick walls, and Mary and Joseph kneel in a corner of the ruin over the child. The light does not come from one place. Small angels have come down all over the building, making music, and each gives off its own glow, but the brightest point is the baby himself. Up in the sky a ring of cloud opens onto more light. Altdorfer marked his monogram on the child's crib.