Comment by Rebecca Fedor on December 1, 2011 at 6:19pm

Something we talked about in class was the three levels in the painting: heaven, earth, and hell. Something that struck me was the fact the Mary and Christ were closest to the bottom, which depicted hell. However, event though that's where they were located the animals closest to them are alive and beautiful. Anything can be made pure beautiful through Christ and His glory.

Comment by Sophia Mittan on December 1, 2011 at 6:28pm

At first glance I see the Madonna and her baby, but as I looked closer I saw that the baby was holing a rose that had not yet blossomed in one hand and was pointing to the old man with the other. I made the assumption that the rose signified the New and that the old man signified the Old. Though I have no idea what Old and New could mean, I thought it was worth mentioning.

Comment by Allison Kobzowicz on December 1, 2011 at 6:34pm

Sophie, I think old and new could be Jesus bridging the gap between OT prophecies and NT fulfillments.

I noticed that the star is portrayed on the same background as the angel from heaven, indicating the miraculous nature of the star that it could be no coincidence.

Comment by Ellen Davis on December 1, 2011 at 7:05pm

Alli, it's also interesting that the angel and star are in the color of earth (yellow, while blue is heaven). Yet they are both circled by blue, making them part of both earth and heaven. The star and angel are both heavenly, but they are portrayed as a part of earth because of the imporant service they had on earth.

Comment by Sharon Rose Keefer on December 1, 2011 at 7:29pm

  I recognized the same thing in class today about Mary and the Christ child being closer to the bottom then the top.  I thought though that it maybe a foreshadowing of Christ's death.  Not only did Jesus come to live on earth, but he also went to hell and conquered Satan.  I also noticed that on the left hand side there are soldiers getting out of their ships and marching towards Mary and Jesus.  So the pointed finger on Jesus' right hand(which is pointing away from them)might also refer to their flee to Egypt.  Also, another possibility I thought of for the old man pointing towards the stork that he maybe Simeon.  He believe the words of Isaiah, so the baby God is blessed him(Jesus holding the flower out towards him maybe a representation of that)so that he was able to see Jesus before his death.  It was just another thought I had besides him being Isaiah.   

Comment by Seth Newkirk on December 1, 2011 at 7:43pm

I noticed that in the background of the painting, there is a procession of horsemen that is coming from the town and coming down from the hill on the right is a horsemen.  Could this possibly be Joseph coming to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt fleeing the Romans?

 

Comment by Billy Cave on December 1, 2011 at 8:28pm

In this painting, first I'd like to comment on the art style. Water color is probably one of my favorite types of paint, and the color is always astounding in it. It has more of an organic feel than oil paintings, and the blues are always incredible. I believe this organic feel leads to more of a human feeling, but then the sky is soo majestic, and honestly more amazing than any other sky I have seen in almost all Renaissance it shows Christ humanity, and that he will take on all the sins of the world. And yet, Durer such a pure look at Chrisr. This is one of the few paintings I've seen where Christ is beautiful, and just pure looking. I believe that this also shows how Christ is the light in our darkness. Really, the only pure being in our corrupt vision of the world. I'd like to end by saying those are some really cool sheep.

Comment by Jordan Boyle on December 1, 2011 at 8:43pm

the thing that i noticed was that on the hill around the top right of the painting, there was a strange house looking thing.  what i immediately thought of was a city on a hill, and how much smaller it is than the city on the left and much lower down on the painting.  perhaps this signinfies that there are much less Christians in the world than... uhhhh... heathens.  this shows just how much work there is to do and also hope in the form of Jesus taking center stage

Comment by Caleb Hartman on December 1, 2011 at 9:31pm

An interesting detail I noticed is in the background of the picture close to the shepherds who are jumping for joy because of the angel.  A goat is acting differently than the other animals by lifting itself up on its hind legs and balancing on the tree next to it while looking up at the sky.  I think the goat is excited by the angel's presence in a supernatural way.  Durer probably wants to show that all nature is excited at Christ's birth and all nature wants to praise Christ and worship him in their various ways. 

Comment by Grace Prensner on December 1, 2011 at 9:34pm

One somewhat comical aspect of this painting is that the small hill to the left of Madonna's head looks very much like an angel. A little further to the left there is an image of soldiers as if they are on some sort of campaign, separated from Madonna by the angelic hill-angel who looks as if it is looking over and protecting Madonna. Could the hidden angel, who is not located on the top level like all the other angel, be a metaphorical image of the way  Christ revealed himself to us? In the same way that the angel is very present but only visible upon closer inspection, Jesus Christ revealed himself to us when he was born but was only percieved by those who had "eyes to see".

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