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Nativity and Passion of Christ

Wolf Traut

1511

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Renaissance Renaissance Religious

Dominant colour

Nativity and Passion of Christ is a 1511 by Wolf Traut, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Wolf Traut
When & what style?: 1511 · Renaissance
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

The painting shows a scene of Jesus' birth with shepherds worshiping him, surrounded by other images and text. This work is interesting because it was made to be understood by people who couldn't read well, with pictures telling the story of Christ's birth and death. You can learn more about the artist's use of contrast and shading by looking into the technique of chiaroscuro.

The story of this work

Overview

Broadsheets, in which the images are accompanied by text, depict extraordinary happenings, omens, historical events, portraits, and traditional folktales. Nativity and Passion of Christ demonstrates clearly the practical function of broadsheets in a semi-literate society. The illustrations are placed around a German prayer which tells of Christ's birth and the redemption of mankind through his Passion. The Nativity with an Adoration of the Shepherds is represented in the center, above which a hand is shown indicating various scenes from the Passion of Christ, which would be pointed out as the…

Read the full account in the museum source.