The Adoration of the Christ Child

From the museum

In this joyous imagining of Jesus’s birth, choirs of angels—each with a different musical attribute—fill the stable with celebratory music. The artist elaborated the setting with luxurious red porphyry and green marble architectural features adorned with floral designs called grotteschi. These organic yet fantastical decorative motifs were inspired by the recent excavation of the Domus Aureus, Emperor Nero’s grand, first-century palace in Rome. Here, these details are likely meant to evoke the tradition that Christ’s birth took place in a stable constructed in the ruins of the biblical king David’s palace.

George F. Harding Collection

Materials & technique

Technique: panel painting, oil painting, painting (image making), painting techniques.

Provenance

Spanish Art Gallery, London, by 1914 to at least 1916 [Steinbart 1922, p. 72; and Conway 1921]. Dr. John E. Stillwell, New York, by 1922[Steinbart 1922, p. 72]; sold, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, Dec. 1–3, 1927, no. 217, to Clapp and Graham as agent for Harding, for $10,250 [Art News 1927, p. 12]; George F. Harding, Jr. (d. 1939), Chicago; bequeathed to the George F. Harding Museum, Chicago; offered for sale, Sotheby’s, New York, Dec. 2, 1976, no. 210, withdrawn; ownership transferred to the Art Institute, 1982; accessioned, 1983.

Where to see The Adoration of the Christ Child

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. View on the museum’s official page.

See more works at Art Institute of Chicago or browse the full Jacob Cornelisz. van OostsanenWorkshop of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen collection.