Deutscher Maler des 17. Jahrhunderts Lot n° 266

Pair of paintings CHRIST'S BIRTH WITH ADORATION OF THE HIRDS and ADORATION OF THE HOLY THREE KINGS Oil on copper plate. Each ca. 33.5 x 28.5 cm. In each case in high rectangular format with ruined architecture and densely set as freshly composed figure staffage, which in their directions of gaze and gestures in the adoration of the shepherds are directed centrally to the infant Jesus, while the other painting also allows for a coexistence of well-wishers and astonished, with the infant Jesus as a meaning catcher a round column, which guides the eye of the viewer. Note: The two densely set compositions go back to older Flemish and Dutch models, which have found offset use, whereby the cultural transfer may have taken place by means of copperplate printing technique. To be mentioned here would be a painting by Cornelis van Poelenburgh (RKD No. 115739), above all a popular composition by Arthus Wolfort, which has survived in the painting in the "Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerp, inv./cat.nr 439" and sometimes also shows a column, which was taken over in our painting in a modified form. In the engravings, this is often part of the stable in which Jesus is born and can be seen as a reference to the renewal of the Old Covenant by the New Covenant. In an engraving by Johann Peter Goffart, for example, which also depicts the Adoration of the Magi, the connection of the column with the stable, or in other words the installation of a ruined architecture, is even more striking. In the present painting, two children surround the round column, the lower child appearing to be somewhat older and the upper one somewhat younger. It could be an anticipation of Jesus and John, whereby in the case of the forearm of the presumed John, a reflective glow on the column would suggest a cross staff pointing to him. (1171614) (13) German School, 17th century A pair of paintings NATIVITY WITH ADORATION OF THE ANGELS and ADORATION OF THE THREE MAGI Oil on copper plate. Ca. 33.5 x 28.5 cm each.