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View at the museum ↗The Stable in Bethlehem
Jean de Gourmontc. 1520–40
- Attribution
- Jean de Gourmont French, 1506-1551
- Medium
- Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
- Physical dimensions
- Sheet, trimmed within platemark: 19.8 × 19.6 cm (7 13/16 × 7 3/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.
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Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
For this Nativity scene Gourmont used the backdrop of a caved-in classical building to herald the dawning of a new era. Much grander even in ruins than an actual stable would have been at the time of Jesus’s birth, the setting emphasizes the contrast between the elaborate architecture of Antiquity and the humble beginnings of Christianity. Only one documented painting and about thirty engravings testify to the extraordinary art of Jean de Gourmont. This, his most famous engraving, was completed during his visit to Lyons, and reveals the artist's extraordinary command of perspective.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0