About a "very mysterious image of the Nativity",... - Lot 13 - Osenat

Lot 13
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Estimation :
2000 - 2500 EUR
About a "very mysterious image of the Nativity",... - Lot 13 - Osenat
About a "very mysterious image of the Nativity", painting found by Mateo Cerezo (1637-1666), RIHA Journal, International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art 2012, 0033, 2012. Used as a devotional object, this small ivory plaque carved in relief presents a favourite subject in Christian iconography: the Holy Family. From the middle of the 15th century, and especially at the instigation of Italian Renaissance painters, the figure of Saint John the Baptist (and Saint Anne) completes the scene. His presence gives this episode, which is part of the cycle of Christ's childhood and the Flight into Egypt, a symbolic dimension other than that of Rest. Accompanied by the lamb and the finger on his mouth to signify that Jesus is sleeping, the young John, baptizer and proto-martyr of Christ, watches over the peaceful sleep of his cousin, in the prescience of the Passion. This scene is especially representative of post-Tridentine art in Italy and France in the 17th century. It is contextualized in a classicizing architectural setting reminiscent of the stagings of Guido Reni, Nicolas Poussin or the sculptor Jacques Sarrazin. In addition, the traditional central group consisting of Mary kneeling beside the sleeping baby Jesus accompanied by Saint John the Baptist and the figure of Joseph, immersed in the premonition of the coming Drama, are accompanied by an angel carrying the Passion Cross. Our subject then takes on a particular form: that of being accompanied by the presage of the future Passion of Christ, through the presence of the arma Christi. This theme develops according to the new theological concept of the "Child of the Passion". Developed in particular by Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629), it assimilates the childhood of Christ to his Passion and death, the state of childhood being considered an "abject" condition. Rarer in sculpture, this theme is more common in painting. We can thus cite the works of the Italian Luca Giordano, The Holy Family and
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