Famous Nativity paintings and the Christmas story they tell

The famous Nativity paintings most people know are Giotto's fresco in Padua, Piero della Francesca's Nativity and Botticelli's Mystic Nativity in London, Geertgen tot Sint Jans's small Nativity at Night, and Correggio's Holy Night in Dresden. Each tells the birth of Jesus from Luke and Matthew, and each adds something the Gospels never say.

That second part is the pleasure of looking closely. The ox and the donkey, the cave, the crowned kings, the baby glowing like a lamp: once you know where each one came from, a familiar Christmas picture starts to read like a record of how Christians have imagined that night, one generation adding to the last.

What is the most famous Nativity painting?

The most famous Nativity painting is usually said to be Giotto's fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, painted around 1305, or Botticelli's Mystic Nativity of 1500. Giotto's is famous for where it stands, at the start of Italian painting as we know it; Botticelli's for the vision it shows.

Giotto gave the scene weight and feeling: Mary lies on her side and looks straight into her son's face, a mother first and a queen of heaven second. Botticelli made it a vision. In the Mystic Nativity at the National Gallery, twelve angels circle a golden sky, the three kings kneel on one side and the shepherds on the other, and a Greek inscription along the top speaks of the troubles of Italy in his own day.

If you want a single picture to remember, take Botticelli's. If you want to understand how the scene came to look the way it does, start with Giotto.

What does the Bible actually say about the birth of Jesus?

The Bible tells the birth of Jesus in two Gospels. Luke gives the birth itself, the manger and the shepherds; Matthew gives the star and the wise men. Neither describes a stable, a cave or any animal beside the manger, and neither says how many wise men came.

Luke's account is spare. "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7, KJV). That one sentence holds almost everything painters needed: a mother, a child, cloth, a feeding trough, and nowhere better to put him.

Then the night opens. "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" (Luke 2:8, KJV). An angel appears, then "a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:13-14, KJV). The shepherds go to Bethlehem and find "Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger" (Luke 2:16, KJV). Those few lines hold most of the Christmas Bible verses people write in cards, and an Advent Bible reading plan that tells the story day by day ends with them on Christmas Eve.

Matthew tells a different part. Wise men come from the east, following a star, and "when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him" (Matthew 2:11, KJV). A house, a young child: Matthew's visit comes some time after the birth. Our page on the Christmas story in the Bible, told in one order sets Luke's scenes and Matthew's side by side, step by step. For the whole account in order, read our guide to the life of Christ told in order, and for why the family was in Bethlehem at all, see why he was born in Bethlehem and not at home.

Which details in the paintings come from Scripture?

Only a few of the details in famous Nativity scenes come from Scripture. The manger, the swaddling cloth, the shepherds at night, the angels and the star are in the Gospels. The ox and donkey, the cave, the stable building, kings, camels, the number three and the light pouring from the child all came later, from prophecy read as a picture, early Christian writings and medieval visions.

What you see in the painting	In the Gospels?	Where it comes from
The manger and swaddling clothes	Yes	Luke 2:7, 2:12
Shepherds keeping watch at night	Yes	Luke 2:8
Angels praising God above	Yes	Luke 2:13-14
The star	Yes, with the wise men	Matthew 2:2, 2:9-10
The ox and the donkey	No	Isaiah 1:3, then the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
A cave	No	The Protoevangelium of James
A wooden stable	No	Inferred from the manger
Three kings with crowns	No number, no crowns	Three gifts (Matthew 2:11), Psalm 72:10
Camels	No	Isaiah 60:6
Light shining from the baby	No	The visions of Bridget of Sweden
Wise men at the manger with the shepherds	No	Two Gospel scenes painted as one

The paintings were made to help people pray, and painters drew freely on what the Church had long read alongside the Gospels. The picture in your head is richer than the text, and it is worth knowing which part is which.

Where do the ox and the donkey come from?

The ox and the donkey come from the prophet Isaiah. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider" (Isaiah 1:3, KJV). Early Christians read that crib as the manger, and the animals as the first to recognize him.

A later book outside the Bible, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, put them in the story outright. In chapter 14 of Pseudo-Matthew, Mary lays the child in the stall and "the ox and the ass adored Him", with Isaiah quoted as the reason. From then on the pair is almost never missing.

So, was there a dog at Jesus' birth? Luke mentions the shepherds' flock out in the field and no animal at the manger, and Matthew names none at all. Painters added them freely. In Geertgen's Nativity at Night you can find the shepherds' dog beside their fire on the hillside, a small touch of everyday life.

Was Jesus born in a stable or a cave?

The Bible does not say whether Jesus was born in a stable or a cave. Luke mentions only a manger and that there was no room in the inn, so painters in the West built a wooden shed around the manger. Painters in the East, and many in Italy, used a cave, because an early writing called the Protoevangelium of James places the birth in one.

In section 18 of the Protoevangelium, Joseph "found a cave there" near Bethlehem and led Mary into it. Pseudo-Matthew keeps the cave and then moves the family to a stable three days later, which is one reason so many paintings show both: a rocky outcrop behind, a timber roof in front. Botticelli's Mystic Nativity does it too: a thatched roof on bare posts, set before the dark mouth of a cave.

Giotto shows exactly that compromise. Mary rests under a plain wooden shelter set against a wall of rock, angels lean over the roof, and the ox and donkey look into the manger at her side. Look to the right and the shepherds stand with their backs half to you, as people do when they arrive somewhere and are not sure they belong.

How did painters show the birth of Jesus over the centuries?

Painters moved the birth of Jesus from a quiet sign to a full drama. The earliest images, on Roman tombs of the fourth century, show the child in a manger with the ox and donkey. In 1223 Francis of Assisi set up a manger with a live ox and donkey at Greccio, in Italy, and the crib scene spread from there. By Giotto, around 1305, the painted figures have feeling. By 1500 the scene had become a vision, a night piece or a song of angels.

Piero della Francesca's Nativity, from the early 1480s, is a good place to see the change. The National Gallery describes it as the Virgin kneeling in adoration before a ramshackle shed, with Joseph seated on the donkey's saddle, the ox bowing its head and the donkey braying. Five angels stand and sing, two of them playing lutes. The child lies on the ground on a fold of Mary's cloak.

Botticelli's Mystic Nativity goes further still, with heaven opened above the shelter and angels embracing men in the foreground. Other painters turned the scene toward its visitors: an Adoration of the Shepherds or an Adoration of the Magi is the same night seen through the people who came. If you love that wider group of pictures, our guide to the most famous paintings of Jesus follows them past Christmas, and what the Gospels say about his childhood picks up where these scenes leave off.

Why is baby Jesus glowing in so many paintings?

Baby Jesus glows in many paintings because of a fourteenth-century mystic, Bridget of Sweden. In her account of a vision of the birth, the newborn gave off a light so bright it outshone the candle Joseph had brought. Painters from the 1400s on took her literally.

Geertgen tot Sint Jans made the most of it. His Nativity at Night at the National Gallery, possibly about 1490, is a small panel almost entirely dark. The light comes from the child in the manger and falls on Mary's face, on the angels and on the ox and donkey. Far behind, an angel blazes over the shepherds on the hill.

Correggio's Holy Night, painted around 1528-30, carries the idea into a crowded scene. A woman at the manger raises her hand against the brightness, shepherds crowd in from the dark, and Mary bends over the child with her face lit by him. The Gospels give no glow, but John's Gospel gives the thought behind it: "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9, KJV). It is the same light the white Christ candle stands for at the centre of the Advent wreath and its candles, week by week.

Why are the wise men in the stable with the shepherds?

The wise men are in the stable because painters joined two Gospel scenes into one picture. Luke's shepherds come on the night of the birth; Matthew's wise men find the young child later, in a house. Putting them together let a single painting show both the poor and the learned kneeling to the same child.

The kings, the camels and the number three grew from Scripture read as a picture. Three gifts suggested three givers. "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts" (Psalm 72:10, KJV) gave them crowns. "The multitude of camels shall cover thee" (Isaiah 60:6, KJV) gave them a caravan. Matthew himself says only "wise men from the east" (Matthew 2:1, KJV). What they carried has its own history: what gold, frankincense and myrrh meant to the first Christians who wrote about them.

Where can you see these paintings in person?

Three of the most famous Nativity paintings belong to one museum, the National Gallery in London: Piero's, Botticelli's and Geertgen's, so a single visit can take in all three. Giotto's fresco is in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, and Correggio's Holy Night is in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

Painting	Painter	Date	Where it is now
The Nativity (fresco)	Giotto	about 1305	Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
The Nativity	Piero della Francesca	early 1480s	National Gallery, London
The Nativity at Night	Geertgen tot Sint Jans	possibly about 1490	National Gallery, London
Mystic Nativity	Sandro Botticelli	1500	National Gallery, London
The Holy Night	Correggio	about 1528-30	Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

The Scrovegni Chapel is visited in small timed groups, so plan ahead if you go. And the Geertgen is smaller than most people expect, not much bigger than a sheet of paper. Stand close.

Is there a modern illustrated telling to keep at home?

CHRIST, Mercy & Light's art book of the life of Jesus tells the story from the Nativity to the Resurrection, with art made for each part of it and the King James text set alongside. Its opening chapter is the birth of Jesus, told in the words of Luke and Matthew.

It faces the same choice Giotto did, what to show and what to leave as Luke and Matthew wrote it, and it is made to be kept, in a clothbound hardcover with a thread-sewn binding that opens flat. It is a book to open with a child on your lap and look for the shepherds together.

You can see it with the other books we are making in our books, in one place. If you are thinking of the season more widely, our ideas for Christmas decorations that keep Christ in the room and Christian Christmas gifts that carry the story start from the same place. For reading through the season, our list of Christian Christmas books for adults, from devotionals to poems begins with Luke and Matthew too.

Looking at them again this Christmas

Next time a Nativity card comes in the mail, turn it over and see who painted it. Then find the manger, the cloth and the shepherds, the parts Luke gave us, and notice what the painter brought to it: an ox, a cave, a glow.

Looking slowly at these pictures through December is close to what the church means by Advent, its season of waiting for Christ's coming. Our guide to what Advent is and how the season began tells that story, from a synod in 380 to the first wreath.

None of it was needed to make the story true. But it shows you how many people, over how many centuries, have knelt beside that manger in their imagination and tried to show the rest of us what they saw.

Frequently asked

Was there a dog at the birth of Jesus?

The Bible does not mention a dog, or any animal, at the birth of Jesus. Luke 2 names the manger and the shepherds' flock in the fields, but no animal beside the manger. Dogs appear in some paintings, such as the shepherds' dog in Geertgen's Nativity at Night, as a painter's touch of everyday life.

Were the wise men at the manger?

The wise men were most likely not at the manger. Matthew says they found "the young child" with Mary in "the house" (Matthew 2:11, KJV), some time after the birth. Paintings often show them at the manger with the shepherds because painters combined Luke's and Matthew's scenes into one picture.

How many wise men were there?

The Bible does not give a number. Matthew 2 names three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, and tradition took that to mean three givers. The names often given to them come from much later Christian writing, not from Scripture.

What is the difference between a Nativity and an Adoration?

A Nativity shows the birth itself: Mary, Joseph and the child, often with the ox and donkey. An Adoration of the Shepherds or Adoration of the Magi shows the same child with the visitors who came to worship him, from Luke 2 and Matthew 2.

Who painted the first Nativity scene?

No single painter made the first. Some of the earliest surviving images of the Nativity are carved on Roman tombs of the fourth century and already show the child in the manger with the ox and the donkey. Giotto's fresco of around 1305 is one of the most influential painted Nativities of all.

Passages cited: Luke 2:1-20 (quoted: 2:7, 2:8, 2:13-14, 2:16; cited: 2:12); Matthew 2:1-11 (quoted: 2:1, 2:11; cited: 2:2, 2:9-10); Isaiah 1:3; Psalm 72:10; Isaiah 60:6; John 1:9.