Cristoph Gertner

With Colnaghi, London;

From whom acquired by the late collector, 1998.

T.D. Kaufmann, in An Exhibition of Master Paintings, exhibition catalogue, D. Garstang (ed.), New York 2003, n.p., cat. no. 7, reproduced;

H. Seifertová, Malby na kameni: umělecký experiment v 16. a na začátku 17. století; Painting on Stone: An Artistic Experiment in the 16th and Early 17th Centuries, Prague 2007, p. 141, reproduced fig. 78;

T.D. Kaufmann, "Addenda to Christoph Gernter," in Studia Rudolphina 10 (2010), p. 125;

J.D. Mann, Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred, 1530-1800, exhibition catalogue, Saint Louis 2020, p. 168, cat. no. 38, reproduced.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530 - 1800, 20 February - 15 May 2022, no. 38.

Wolfenbüttel court artist Christoph Gertner’s produced this unique depiction of the Nativity between circa 1605 and 1610. In a striking interplay of material and meaning, the painter combined dark Belgian marble and translucent alabaster to distinguish the earthly and heavenly realms, thereby underscoring the miraculous nature of Christ’s birth. The nocturnal stable scene is rendered on the former, while the alabaster’s circular striations above simulate a burst of divine light radiating from heaven. Angels hover between the two worlds, both visually and materially bridging the divide between the heavenly and earthly realms. The composition draws inspiration from a 1605 Nativity by Hans von Aachen.