The Nativity at Night
Jan Provoost (Bergen c.1465 - Bruges 1529)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1485 - 1529
Materials
Oil on panel (oak)
Measurements
712 x 311 mm (28 x 12 1/4 in)
Place of origin
Bruges
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446766
Summary
Oil painting on oak panel, The Nativity at Night by Jan Provoost (Bergen c.1465 - Bruges 1529). The interior of a ruined brick building with the Virgin kneeling, surrounded by child angels, adoring the Child who lies on the ground before her; she wears a pale blue-grey robe and hood and dark blue mantle. In the background Saint Joseph, carrying a lantern, stands beside a woman who may be one of the two midwives in attendance at the birth of Christ; in the foreground the ox and ass lie on either side of the Child and at the right two shepherds peer through a window. Light radiates from the Child and illuminates the face of the Madonna and part of her robe. Probably the left wing of a triptych.
Provenance
Given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882 – 1948) shortly before his death in 1948
Credit line
Upton House, The Bearsted Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Jan Provoost (Bergen c.1465 - Bruges 1529), artist