# Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Nativity (recto) and Text (verso)

**Unknown artist**  
c. 1430  
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum  
Leaf: 17 x 12.5 cm (6 11/16 x 4 15/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.23. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/2014.23).

## About this work

Representing God's entry into the world, the Nativity remains one of medieval painting's most poignant Christian images. In the Gospels, only Matthew and Luke directly described this event. Perhaps the brevity and absence of detail in these texts allowed artists to devote so much creativity to amplifying the Christmas story. This miniature's simplicity makes it compelling. Only the three principals—Mary, Joseph, and the newly born Christ child—appear in the scene. The Virgin kneels before an elegant canopied bed made sumptuous by a richly embroidered textile, which stands in contrast to the nearby rustic fence and receding landscape. This scene probably follows the mystical visions of Saint Bridget of Sweden who visited Bethlehem in 1370, and whose written accounts circulated widely after her canonization in 1391: "When her time came she took off her shoes and her white cloak and undid her veil. . . . Then she made ready the swaddling clothes which she put down beside her. When all was ready she bent her knees and began to pray. While she was thus praying with hands raised the child was suddenly born, surrounded by a light so bright that it completely eclipsed Joseph's feeble candle."

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

An unrecorded Northeastern France, 15th century artist painted this in about 1430. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Tempera.** Pigment bound with egg yolk. It dries in minutes and can’t be blended wet, so painters built up form with fine, hatched strokes. It was Europe’s main panel technique before oil.

## Facts

- Type: Manuscript
- Culture: Northeastern France, 15th century
- Real size: about 6½ × 5 in (17 × 13 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 15th century
- Colour: grey
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/781.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/781/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/leaf-from-a-book-of-hours-the-nativity-recto-and-text-verso-cma-171423).