Mary Stevenson Cassatt is one of America’s most well known artists. She was born in Alleghany City near Pittsburgh. Her father was a banker and stockbroker. The family traveled frequently to Europe, where he took her first art classes and also learned to speak French and German. After seeing the great art of Europe, she decided she wanted to be an artist. When the family settled in Philadelphia in 1859, she began classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Discouraged with the patronizing teachers and male students, she left the Academy in 1865 saying, “There is no teaching at the Academy.” She was referring to the fact that female students were allowed to learn anatomy from plaster casts only, not from life. Famously opposed to Mary’s choice to pursue an artistic career her father said, “I would rather see her dead.” He finally relented in 1866, and Mary was allowed to go to Paris to study art, but with her mother and other family friends as chaperones. In Paris she had to take private lessons from Academy artists, because females were not allowed to be students in classes.

Cassatt’s first ten years in Paris were generally unsuccessful. She was juried into the 1868 Paris Salon exhibition, but her work was rejected for the next ten years. In 1871, she returned to America because of the Franco-Prussian War. A letter of July 1871 states: “I have given up my studio and torn up my father’s portrait and have not touched a brush for six weeks nor ever will again until I see some prospect of getting back to Europe.” The Archbishop of Pittsburgh commissioned Cassatt in 1871 to make copies of two Correggio paintings in Parma, Italy. The money and commission allowed her return to Italy and to travel to Spain. She returned to Paris in 1874, and found an apartment with her sister Lydia. ”No amount of bodily suffering would seem for me too great a price for the pleasure of being in a country where one could have some art advantages. I recognize who were my true masters. I admired Manet, Courbet and Degas. I hated conventional art. I began to live.”

“Woman with a Pearl Necklace” (1879)

Cassatt’s father, mother, brother and his wife and children moved to Paris in 1877, and she lived with them and enjoyed the closeness of her family until 1888. She remained unmarried; having decided marriage would not be good for her career. This trip to Paris was a success; her paintings were accepted into five Salon exhibitions. But she changed her style and decided not to submit again. She met the Impressionist painter Edgar Degas in 1878. “It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it.” Degas invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists: “I accepted with joy. I hated conventional art. I began to live. At last I could work in complete independence, without bothering about the eventual judgment of a jury.”

“Woman with a Pearl Necklace” (1879)

Woman with a Pearl Necklace depicts Cassatt’s sister Lydia in the newly opened Paris Opera. Cassatt is fully engaged in Impressionist style in this work. The crystals in the chandeliers provide the shimmering rainbow light source of Impressionism. Science had recently revealed that all sources of light were made up of the colors purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red as seen through a prism, and in the rainbow. There color spectrum contains no black or white. Cassatt paints colors of the lights and shadows creating the three-dimensional effect of Lydia’s skin, white gloves, and light pink dress with the six colors of the light spectrum. Note specifically the greens, blues and purples used to paint the shadows. To depict the slight shifting of movements of the sitter, Cassatt has employed the Impressionist‘s swift and light brush stokes.

In addition to the use of color and brush work, Cassatt also reflects the Impressionist interest in representing modern life. The Impressionist were a group of about ten artists, while their contemporaries, the thousands of Academy painter, still cling to the stilted subject matter of Greek goddesses and historical themes. The bourgeoisie of Paris were enjoying the new entertainments available to everyone: circuses, nightclubs on Montmartre, opera, and ballet. Cassatt’s compositions also were very well thought out. The viewer can follow the numerous small and large semi-circles from the small curves of dress and pillow in the foreground, through the sweeping curve of Lydia’s dress bodice, answering curves of her shoulders, small pearl necklace and larger swell of the red velvet of the chair in the center. The swinging curves of the boxes and the distant glass beads of the chandelier complete the scene. With all these compositional elements, Cassatt also adds the diagonal of Lydia’s fan, echoed by her arms and shoulders, to bring Lydia’s head to the center of the composition. Note also the placement of the red cushions and red flower in her corsage and in her hair. The most distinctly colored item is the fan. This color palette is used through out the painting, as the larger patches of blues, greens and purples depict the crowd of onlookers in the boxes. Mary Cassatt is a master of composition.

“Little Girl in the Blue Armchair” (1878)

Cassatt exhibited with the Impressionist’s from 1879 to 1886. The 1879 exhibition was one of the Impressionist’s most successful. Another of Cassatt’s paintings in the 1879 exhibition was “Little Girl in the Blue Arm Chair” (1878) (35.2’’ x 5l.1’’) (NGA). Cassatt loved to paint her family, and she showed a particular skill for catching the unique and engaging moments of children in unposed situations. The little girl has casually plopped down in the chair. Tired and bored, she takes no notice that her skirt has ruched up around her waist revealing her lace petticoat. Her little brown dog, painted in blue, green and purple, sleeps in the opposite chair and mirrors the shape of her plaid skirt. Her arms are all akimbo, the left filling in the back of the chair, while the curve of the right arm is repeated by the curve of the distant sofa.

The composition is cleverly made up of repeated curves and angles. The plaid skirt determines the specific colors repeated throughout. Cassatt chooses to create an unusual overall composition that cuts the furniture off at the top, sides and bottom, evidencing the Impressionist’s recognition of the new art of photography. Snapshots inevitably centered the photo on the selected image and cut off any surrounding objects at the edges.

“Maternal Caress” (1890-91)

Degas suggested in 1880 that Cassatt should continue to develop the mother and child theme that was bringing her success and where she excelled. Cassatt also expanded her media to include pastels and prints. The popularity of Japanese woodcut prints (Ukiyo-e), introduced into Paris in 1867, were another major influence on the Impressionist’s and Cassatt. She began to make a series of prints in 1890, employing the techniques of aquatint, dry point, and soft ground etching. “Maternal Caress”  is one of ten prints her one-woman exhibition in 1891 at Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. Prints use a limited palette that relies on the color of the paper and simple patterns in a single color of ink to depict figures and background. The color areas are accomplished with aquatint, and soft ground etching. Dry point employs a sharp needle that must draw lines into a hard metal plate. Mistakes are not correctable. Cassatt’s lines, drawn precisely to render the affection between mother and child, are perfection. She was able to make the process look easy, when in reality it is very difficult.

“Boating Party” (1893-94)

“Boating Party” (1893-1894) (3’ x 3.10’’) (NGA), is another example of Cassatt’s great skill with oil paint, composition, and mother and child images. Her later paintings no longer were made with quick brushstrokes except in the movement of water. Nevertheless, the six sunlight colors still create all the forms. Beyond the fun of the interaction between mother and child, the composition is created with numerous curved forms, the most obvious being the shape of the boat and sail. With the exception of the strong horizontals of the boat seats and the distant horizon, and the diagonal oars, the composition is composed of semi-circles. From the rower’s circular bottom and blue sash, to the circular bottoms of the skirts, to the curved poses of hands, arms, and hats, there is clever play of echoing curves. In addition, the bold yellow parts of the boat in the foreground are subtly played out in the sail, the mother’s hat, and buildings along the horizon. Mary Cassatt knows how to make a very satisfying painting.

A business woman, philanthropist, and women’s rights advocate, Berthe Honore Palmer invited Cassatt to the paint a mural on the north tympanum of the Gallery of Honor in the Woman’s Pavilion at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The theme, “Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge or Science” (1893) (58’ x 12’) was Cassatt’s response to women’s rights. To her good friend Louisine Havemeyer, Cassatt wrote: “I am going to do a decoration for the Chicago Exhibition. When the committee offered it to me to do, at first I was horrified, but gradually I began to think it would be great fun to do something I had never done before and as the bare idea of such a thing put Degas into a rage and he did not spare every criticism he could think of, I got my spirit up and said I would not give up the idea for anything.” Suffragettes would have approved of the theme, but the general public heavily criticized Cassatt. The panel disappeared after the end of the Exposition.

“Nurse Reading to a Little Girl” (1895)

Before meeting Degas in 1878, Cassatt admired Degas’s pastels. In 1875 she said, “I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of his art. It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it.” “Nurse Reading to a Little Girl” (1895) (pastel) (26.6’’x28.7’’) is but one more example of Cassatt’s artistic expertise.

Cassatt and Degas disagreed over the Dreyfus affair in 1894 to 1906; she was pro-Dreyfus, and their friendship ended. On her first trip home in 1898, a Philadelphia newspaper noted only that she was home, had studied painting, and had a small Pekingese dog. She was made a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor in 1904, and also was made Honorary President of the Paris Art League, a school for American women students in Paris. Never a person to hold back her opinions, which were often quite sharp, when visiting the 1908 Paris Salon she saw: “Dreadful paintings and people gathered together in one Place. I wanted to be taken home at once.” She made a trip to Egypt with her brother Gardner in 1910, and on her return stated she was “crushed by the strength of this Art. I fought against it, but it conquered, it is surely the greatest art the past has left us…how are my feeble hands to ever paint the effect on me.”

In 1911 she was diagnosed with diabetes, rheumatism and cataracts and by 1914 she stopped making art. She showed eighteen works in a 1915 exhibition supporting the women’s suffrage movement. George Biddle, painter and fellow Philadelphian, described Cassatt: “She drew the almost impossible line between her social life and her art, and never sacrificed an iota to either. Socially and emotionally she remained the prim Philadelphia spinster of her generation.” Cassatt’s work today sells for prices from two to five million dollars. Although she spent most of her life in Paris, she asserted, “I am American, definitely and frankly American.”

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning.  She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Robert S. Duncanson was born in Fayette, New York, to freed slaves from Virginia. He was raised in Monroe, Michigan. His grandfather, an accomplished carpenter and house painter, passed down his skills to Robert’s father and his four sons. Possessing these skills, Robert developed his artistic painting skills largely on his own by copying prints and by sketching. He was in a painting business from 1838 to 1839 with John Gamblen.  He left for Cincinnati to further his art. With had a population of approximately 3000 free blacks, Cincinnati was welcoming to Duncanson. Cincinnati also was known as “the Athens of the West,” with a growing group of wealthy art patrons.  A few of Duncanson’s portraits were accepted into the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts exhibition in 1842, yet he was not permitted to take classes at the Academy. The works were well received, but his family was not permitted to attend the exhibition. His mother said “I know what they look like …I know that they are there! That’s the important thing.” 

Duncanson met Worthington Whittredge and William Louis Sonntag, both new to Cincinnati and hoping to develop their painting careers.  Of similar age and interest, the three became friendly.  They went on sketching trips on the Ohio River in the 1850s, and developed a strong interest in nature, and turned successfully to landscape painting. The major influence for their change from portrait or still-life subjects was the notable popularity of the landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School.  Duncanson began to be recognized in the mid-west. In 1848 the Detroit Daily Advertiser stated, “Mr. Duncanson deserves, and we trust will receive the patronage of all lovers of the fine arts.” 

“Blue Hole, Flood Waters Little Miami River,” (1851)

“Blue Hole, Flood Waters, Little Miami River” (1851) (28.5’’ x 41.4’’) depicts a real location on the Little Miami River, and the painting is an excellent example of Duncanson’s work.  Three small figures at the center of the composition, invite us to grab a pole and to come and sit down by the river, and enjoy the peaceful day. The water is still, the sky is calm. Duncanson has mastered the painting technique of the European and Hudson River painters. The painting’s composition moves the viewer’s eye on a zigzag path from the red flowers and rocks at the lower left, to the fishermen, to the right side where light catches a few bent and fallen branches angled inward toward a large speckled rock. Catching a bit of light behind the rock is a forest clearing where some of the trees angle toward the center of the painting, pointing back across the water to a standing dead tree. This tree and the verticality of the forest that surrounds it effectively halts the compositional flow to the right. The viewer’s eye is drawn across the river again and settles on the white tree trunk centered in the canvas.  The calm, cloud filled sky completes this pastoral reverie. Duncanson uses bits of color and splashes of light, and he carefully angles lines of natural objects to slowly reveal the secrets of the painting.

Cincinnati was the home of many abolitionists.  Charles Avery, an abolitionist Methodist minister, introduced Duncanson to the large number of abolitionist art patrons. Nicholas Longworth, one of the richest men in America, became a significant patron of Duncanson.  Longworth commissioned him to create eight landscape paintings to cover the foyer walls of his Cincinnati mansion, Belmont (1848-1851) (9’ high to 6.5’ wide).The walls were covered with landscape scenes of the American mid-west and are the largest of Duncanson’s paintings. He painted decorative triumph l’oeil (fool the eye) columns and arches to simulate stone-carved architecture that surround each painting. Landscape subjects eventually went out of style, and the paintings were covered with wall paper. They were discovered in 1933, and are now restored in their original location. The Belmont estate is now Cincinnati’s Tate Museum of Art.

“Uncle Tom and Little Eva’ (1853)

 An abolitionist minister and editor of the Detroit Tribune, Reverence James Francis Conover, commissioned Duncanson in 1853 to paint “Uncle Tom and Little Eva” (1853) (27.25’’ x 39.25’’).  Duncanson used the original engraving of the same scene by Tom Billings for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Uncle Tom and Little Eva are depicted in discussion about salvation and becoming free through spiritual love and sacrifice.  Duncanson added a peaceful sunset and the surrounding garden of St. Clare villa on Lake Pontchartrain. Traditionally, the subject of a commissioned work is determined by the commissioner, in this instance Reverend Conover. This painting is unique in Duncanson’s work.  Although the Abolitionist movement was extremely strong in Cincinnati and many wealthy abolitionist patrons supported his work, this piece was the only commission of the subject. Duncanson’s huge popularity and success rested entirely upon his compelling landscapes.

“Landscape with Rainbow” (1859)

Duncanson was able to travel to Europe in 1853 for the grand tour, sponsored by the Freeman’s Aid Society and the Anti-Slave League in Cincinnati.  In a letter to a friend on January 22, 1854, Duncanson wrote:  “English landscapes were better than any in Europe, and the English are great in water color while the French are better historical painters than the English. I am disgusted with our Artists in Europe. They are mean Copiests[sic].  My trip to Europe has to some extent enabled me to judge my own talent. Of all the landscapes I saw in Europe (and I saw thousands) I do not feel discouraged.”  Indeed, Duncanson’s talent and success grew.

“Landscape with Rainbow” (1859) (30’’x52’’)(SAAM), exhibited in 1862, received praise from the Cincinnati Gazette, and Duncanson was called “the best landscape painter in the West.” The panoramic pastoral landscape depicts a couple strolling in a pasture while a small herd of cattle walks calmly toward a distant cottage. A few puddles from the recent rain dot the fertile landscape, and a rainbow touches down above the roof of the cottage. All is in harmony, man and nature. The rainbow adds a specific meaning to the painting.  Symbolic of peace and forgiveness, it recalls the end of the flood in Genesis, when God forgave mankind: “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:13)

This painting may look familiar. It became instantly famous on January 20, 2021, when it was presented to President Joseph Biden and Dr. Jill Biden in the United States Capitol during the Inauguration Ceremony.

“Waterfall, Mont Morency, Quebec” (1864)

Duncanson exiled himself in 1863 to Canada for the duration of  the American Civil War.  He settled in Montreal and traveled back and forth between Canada and Great Britain. “Waterfall, Mont Morency, Quebec” (1864)(18’’ x 28’’)(SAAM) continues Duncanson’s love of water. As in all of Duncanson’s work, a few small-scale figures are set against the beauty and peace of panoramic landscape. The subtle zigzag composition, explored in “Blue Hole, Flood Waters Little Miami River” allows the viewer to move slowly thought the scene and take in its splendor.  Duncanson’s stay in Canada was significant for the newly forming Canadian interest in art. He inspired the development of the first Canadian school of landscape painting. Canadian writers credit Duncanson as being one on of “the earliest of our professional cultivators of the fine arts.”

“Ellen’s Isle, Loch Katrina” (1871)

Inspired by his father’s heritage, Duncanson made frequent visits to Scotland “Ellen’s Isle, Loch Katrina” (1871) (28.5” x 49”) was inspired by The Lady of the Lake, Sir Walter Scott’s poem of 1810.  The poem was very popular with American Abolitionist and African-American leaders, including Duncanson’s contemporary Frederick Douglas (1818-1895). Both men read Scott’s poem and visited Loch Katrina.  Britain abolished slavery in its colonies in 1833, and was popular with African-American tourists. Ellen’s Isle in Loch Katrina was a popular tourist destination. Frederick Douglas, after changing his name many times to avoid capture, chose the name Frederick from one of Scott’s characters. The painting hangs in Detroit Institute of Art.  “For Duncanson, the boat crossing the water in this painting symbolized African-American slaves’ passage to freedom and their hope for a better world. (DIA website. November 14, 2020). “

Upon the re-discovery of Duncanson’s work in the mid-Twentieth Century several art historians have interpreted the themes of his landscapes to include subtle political messages about the horror of slavery. The small figures in his paintings are thought to be African Americans, who while appreciating the beauty of nature, actually live in a world which is the antithesis of the peace depicted in his paintings.  Art historian Joseph D. Ketner puts forthin his 1994 book the idea that Duncanson was a cultural leader in Cincinnati: “Duncanson revealed his own anti-slavery beliefs and substantiated his proclamation of sympathy with the plight of his fellow African-Americans as an ardent activist in abolitionist causes.” Other art historians disagree with this hypothesis. When asked by his son to be pro-active in the Abolitionist Movement, Duncanson stated “I have no color on the brain. All I have on the brain is paint…I care not for color. Love is my principle, order is the basis, progress is the end.”

Duncanson made his last trip to Scotland in 1870-71. In America his Scottish paintings were huge successes.  Unfortunately, he began suffering from bouts of dementia, possibly brought on by lead poisoning or suspected schizophrenia.  He thought he was possessed by a female master painter from the past. He suffered a seizure while setting up an exhibition in Detroit in 1872, resulting in three months spent in a sanatorium. He died at the age fifty-one in 1872. He is buried in the family plot in Woodland Cemetery in Monroe, Michigan.  Written on the wall of his studio in Cincinnati were these words:  “The mere imitation of the form and colors of nature is not art, however perfect the resemblance. True art is the development of the sentiments and principles of the human soul–natural objects being the medium of illustration.”  

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning.  She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Portraits of President George Washington were the most requested paintings in America for decades.  Although disinclined to do so, Washington, at the request of Martha, sat for Charles Wilson Peale at Mt. Vernon in 1772.  Washington was a Colonel in the Virginia Regiment at that time. Over the years Peale did seven portraits of Washington.  Gilbert Stuart painted two portraits of Washington in 1795 in Philadelphia. The success of his first portrait eventually generated 75 copies. Stuart’s painting became the model for Stuart’s later portraits and for other painters to fulfill the numerous requests that flowed in from individuals and states. 

The first sculpture of George Washington was the result of the efforts of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, both in Paris after the American Revolution.  In 1784, Benjamin Harrison V, the Governor of Virginia, contacted Jefferson, in Paris serving as the American Minister to France, to look for a good artist to sculpt Washington.  Jefferson, a Francophile, knew of Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), an artist known for his sculpted portraits of notable French persons.  Jefferson met Houdon and commissioned him to create a monumental equestrian statue for Virginia. Ultimately the commission became a standing figure. 

George Washington (plaster life mask) (1785)

Coincidentally, Houdon had carved a bust of Benjamin Franklin in 1778.  Considering the commission from Jefferson, Houdon was reluctant to carve a three-dimensional figure using only a drawing by Charles Wilson Peale.  Franklin invited Houdon to come to America to meet and sculpt Washington.  Jefferson, Franklin, and Houdon arrived at Mt Vernon in1785.  Washington reluctantly agreed to sit for Houdon, but only for the time required for Houdon to make a wet clay bust in terra cotta. Washington also agreed to the making of a life plaster cast of his face. Houdon made a gift of the terra cotta to Washington, and it remains at Mt Vernon today.  Houdon also took Washington’s measurements in order to produce the statue. 

George Washington (1788 to 1792), State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia,

Washington insisted he appear dressed in contemporary clothing, not military garb. To this end, his right arm rests on a gentleman’s walking stick.  He is posed in contrapposto, innovated Polykleitos of Athens (c450 BCE) to depict the human body in its most comfortable standing position.  Washington’s body appears comfortable and relaxed, and his face appears calm but thoughtful.  

Symbolically, Washington’s left arm rests on Roman fasces, wooden rods bound together to represent power in unity.  In Rome the hand-held fasces was a weapon with an axe firmly fixed at the top. America adopted the ideal of democracy from the Athenian Greeks, and organization of the rule of law from the Romans.  In the United States Capitol and elsewhere the fasces are displayed as a bundle of thirteen rods bound together as an iconic symbol of the United States of America.  Washington’s sword hangs from the top of the fasces.  On the right side is the walking stick of the public man, and on the left is the sword of the general. Critics often state that Houdon had captured both the private and the public Washington.  Chief Justice John Marshall wrote, “Nothing in bronze or stone could be a more perfect image than this statue of the Living Washington.”  Houdon’s statue has been duplicated many times, and copies can be found at Valley Forge, inside the Washington Monument, and in Philadelphia, to mention a few.

George Washington (1840)

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Washington’s birthday, the United States government commissioned  the first American sculptor, Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), to create a sculpture of Washington for the Capitol Rotunda.  Greenough, born in Boston, was a strict classicist at heart. Trained in Rome, he sculpted several portrait busts in Boston and Rome. He used the life mask of Washington made by Houdon as the model for Washington’s face.  The seated figure of Washington made of Carrara marble weighed twelve tons. It is recorded that twenty-two yoked oxen were needed to move the statue from Florence to the port at Genoa.  Along the way, Italians crowded the streets thinking it was the sculpture of a saint.  

Greenough’s statue was on display in the Capitol Rotunda from 1841 to 1843. The statue was controversial from the start. Most surprising to many viewers was the well muscled, bare-chested figure, wearing a Roman toga and sandals, and seated on a throne. Greenough had modeled the statue on the ancient sculpture of Zeus in his temple at Olympus. Washington chose the title President rather than King, and for many this representation was not the Washington they expected or wanted. Carved on the front of the pedestal is the inscription “First in the Hearts of His Countrymen.” On the back of the pedestal Greenough carved an inscription in Latin:  “Horatio Greenough made this image as a great example of freedom, which will not survive without freedom itself.”  One of Greenough’s friends wrote, “This magnificent production of genius does not seem to be appreciated at its full value in this metropolis.”

Greenough fully utilized the classical ideal.  Washington sits on a throne-like chair, with lion heads and paws forming the arms. The chair’s right side panel depicts Apollo, the Sun God, driving his chariot across the sky.  Standing at the back of the seat is a small figure of an Indian representing the old world. On the panel at the left side of the chair,  baby Hercules defeats the python, and above is the small figure of Christopher Columbus  representing the new world.  Washington’s right arm is raised over his head and his hand is posed in the Roman imperial gesture with one finger pointing to the heavens, meaning the subject was the one and only one in charge and ruled by the Gods’ assent. Washington’s left arm is raised and holds his sword, hilt toward the viewer:  Washington won the war with the sword and had given America to the people. 

George Washington on Capitol Lawn (1899)

In 1843, Greenough suggested the statue be moved to the east lawn of the Capitol. It remained outside for the next sixty years subject to the elements. It became part of the Smithsonian collection in 1964, was restored, and placed in the National Museum of American History. The photo of the statue in place on the Capitol grounds was taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864 to1957). Johnston was one of the first American women photographers to achieve prominence. Notable for her portraits of presidents and diplomats in Washington, DC, she was a photojournalist, writer and photographer of magazine articles, chronicler of southern architecture and gardens, and a world-traveled photographer who exhibited nationally and internationally.

Abraham Lincoln portrait bust with Vinnie Ream (c1866)

Vinnie Ream was born in a log cabin in Madison, Wisconsin.  She taught herself to play guitar, piano and harp, and she composed music and sang.  At age twelve she attended the Academy at Christian College in Missouri where her talents were encouraged and expanded to include art.  When her family moved to Washington, DC, in 1862, she worked in the United States Post Office.  She also was apprenticed to sculptor Clark Mills. On seeing Abraham Lincoln, she wanted to do a portrait of him.  Lincoln was extremely busy as the Civil War was raging, and he was reluctant to have anyone or anything distract him from the necessary work for the Country.  When Ream’s sponsor told Lincoln she was “a poor girl from the West,” he agreed to half- hour sittings while he worked at his desk.  Ream writes of the experience:  “I was a mere slip of a child, weighing less than ninety pound and the contrast between the raw boned man and me was great…His favorite son Willie had just died and this had been the greatest personal loss in his life… I remember him…slouched down into a chair… deeply thoughtful…I think he was with his generals, appraising the horrible sacrifices brought upon his people and the nation.”

Abraham Lincoln (1870)

When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, the Government commissioned the then eighteen-year-old, Vinnie Ream to carve his statue. A major controversy ensued. Objections to Ream were obvious.  She was a woman, she had little or no formal training, and she was too young and too pretty. Senator Jacob Howard stated, “…having in view her sex, I shall expect a complete failure in the execution of her work.”  However, she had strong support from President Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant, and 31 senators and 114 representatives.  Ream, as all great sculptors had to do at the time, went to Italy to find the marble and to sculpt the statue. This led to another typical criticism when the artist was a woman – plagiarism. Clearly she could not have done the work, someone else made it and she took the credit. Her mentor Clark Mills had to write a letter stating that he did not make the statue.  

In their choice of Ream, the choice was correct. Vinnie Ream sat quietly with Lincoln for hours during the War and after the death of his son.  She probably knew Lincoln as well or better than any one. Ream wrote of her statue: “I think that history is particularly correct in writing Lincoln down as the man of sorrow. The one great, lasting, all-dominating impression that I have always carried of Lincoln has been that of unfathomable sorrow, and it was this that I tried to put into my statue…when he learned that I was poor he granted me the sittings for no other purpose than that I was a poor girl.  Had I been the greatest sculptor in the world, I am sure that he would have refused at that time.”  The Lincoln statue has always resided in Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol. 

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning.  She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Winter brings to mind snow and ice, which then brings fond memories of lacing on ice skates and gliding with a group of friends on a frozen pond in Baltimore County.  Alas not many frozen ponds can be found these days. However, many depictions of the sport can be found in the Seventeenth Century paintings by the Dutch Masters.

“Winter Landscape with Skaters near a Castle” (1608-09)

 Hendrick Avercamp’s “Winter Landscape with Skaters near a Castle” (1608-09) (40.7”diameter) depicts the frozen canal of a small Dutch town. The ice and weather do not seem to stop folks from going about their normal activities, except they are on ice skates or sleds. At the left side of the painting children throw snow balls.  A few noticeable upper class figures appear in the foreground. The gentlemen wear fashionable feathered hats, loose full breeches, fitted doublet jackets and capes over one shoulder in the Spanish style.  Both men and women wear white neck ruffs, and the fabrics of their garments are elegant with touches of brocades, gold braid, and sashes.  The ladies wear skirts with boned farthingales that create a wide silhouette, fitted jackets with slightly belled sleeves at the top, stomachers to create a thinner look at the waist, and a variety of hats. The middle class figures have similar silhouettes, but their clothing is undecorated and shown in solid colors.  Everyone seems to be enjoying the day.

A Scene on the Ice

Averkamp was born in Amsterdam in1585, and as a child he ice skated with his parents. He lived during the coldest period of what has been called the Little Ice Age, when winters arrived early and ended late.  Averkamp specialized in winter scenes, that often included ice skating. “A Scene on the Ice” (undated) (watercolor) (7.5’’ x 12’’) is one of many outdoor sketches he made in preparation for his oil paintings.  He is noted for his minute observation of details, this sense possibly was increased because he was both mute and deaf. His sketches were so complete, and his paintings so in demand, that the sketches were often framed and sold.

“Winter Landscape with Skaters and Kolf Players on a Frozen River” (1642)

Aert van de Neer, of Amsterdam, specialized in winter scenes and twilight landscapes.  “Winter Landscape with Skaters and Kolf Players on a Frozen River” (1642) (19’’ x35.5’’) depicts a panoramic scene of a large frozen lake with Dutch houses and a Protestant Church.  In the distance windmills and the impression of a larger town appear in the frozen haze. Skaters crisscross the ice, and a group at the right side by snow covered trees are about to embark on a sleigh ride.  Van de Neer’s painting illustrates his keen interest in the atmosphere of winter landscapes mostly seen at twilight. The sky is filled with large, billowing clouds rendered in cold grays and blues, and tinged with the pink haze of a setting sun. The atmosphere is appropriately chilly.  

Van de Neer’s painting depicts another popular pastime for Dutch skaters, colf/kolf/golf.  At the centered of the painting, a colf player appears to be aiming a shot toward a post that sticks up out of the ice.  Another player to his left waits his turn.  To the right, a group is waiting for a skater to tie on his skates.  The Finns were the first to use skates made from shank or rib bones of animals over 4000 years ago. The Dutch invented skates with metal blades and edges in the 13th or 14th Century.  Originally skaters used a stick to propel themselves forward and to stop. The metal blades, seen in all these painting made gliding on ice much easier.  The blades were tied onto wooden platforms, then tied onto shoes with leather thongs until 1848, when a Scot invented skates clipped to a boot. Archeological remains show ball and stick games are as old Egypt and China.  The Dutch game is said to be a version of golf that derived from Scotland in 1421. Ice hockey, although seemingly a logical idea, did not become recognized and organized until the 1800’s.  

“Skating” (18th Century print)

Ice skating was introduced to England by the Scottish King James II.  He observed the new sport during his brief exile in the Netherlands in 1648.  “Skating” (18th Century print) (published in Newington Butts, London) is set in a snow-covered country side with a frozen pond.  Upper class male skaters are showing off for two young ladies.  Behind them are figures slipping, sliding, and falling on the ice.  On the right side, a farmer uses an axe to make a hole in the ice to reach water for his cows and sheep.  In the distance at the left side, another farmer feeds hay to his animals.  Although all classes skated in Britain, the upper class can be observed at play while the lower class is at class.  A confrontation seems to be brewing between the black and white dog standing at attention on the left, with a mottled pup, on the right, in a defensive pose and barking.  On the Continent, ice skating was also popular in the court of Rudolf II of Germany (1576-1612) and in Paris ice skating was extremely popular with Louis XVI and the Napoleons.  However, unlike the Netherlands and Britain, it was considered a pastime for the upper class only. 

“The Skater” (1782)

 Ice skating had become so popular in Scotland that the first skating club was organized in Edinburgh in 1742. “The Skater” (1782) (108” x 70”)(National Gallery, DC), a portrait of Scotsman William Grant, was painted by the American artist Gilbert Stuart.  Stuart went to London in 1775, where he was apprenticed for five years to the American artist Benjamin West.  “The Skater” was Stuart’s first full length portrait. In the studio for his first sitting, Grant said, “on account of the excessive coldness of the weather… the day was better suited for skating than sitting for one’s portrait.” So they went to Hyde Park to skate. Tradition life-sized portraits were of standing or seated figures, not figures in motion.  Stuart was inspired to paint an outside winter scene with Grant calm and confidently skating on the frozen river. In the far distance the double towers of Westminster Abbey can be seen.  The uniqueness and excellence of this portrait, exhibited at Royal Academy of London in 1782, brought Stuart instant recognition and great success in Britain, and then in America.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning.  She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Margaret Bourke-White was a preeminent American photojournalist.  She was born in the Bronx on June 14, 1904, to Joseph White and Minne Bourke.  Both parents were progressive and brought their children up with the ideas of the Ethical Culture movement, a humanist belief that ethics are necessary to create a just and humane society.  Minnie home schooled the children.  Joseph was an inventor and designer of printing equipment.  Margaret was intrigued with the machinery of the printing press, and her father often took her to see machinery in factories.  She followed him everywhere pretending to take photographs with a cigar box, and she helped him develop his photographs in their bathtub.  Photography would become her medium of choice, her greatest challenge, and her life’s work:  “Utter truth is essential and that is what stirs me when I look through the camera.” Oddly enough, Bourke-White never used a camera until her father’s death in 1922.

After attending several colleges, getting married and divorced, she finally finished her degree at Cornell University in 1926.  She writes that she went to Cornell “because I read there were waterfalls on the campus.”  She was the photo editor of her yearbook and earned money selling photographs of the campus to alumni and fellow students. Following her graduation she moved to Cleveland and set up a photo studio in her apartment. She had difficulty with lighting at first but discovered magnesium flares, used in cinema, to solve the lighting issues.  Always fascinated by industrial images, she began shooting at the Otis Steel Mill in Cleveland. These photos brought her to the attention of Henry Luce, editor of TIME magazine, who hired her for six months to travel the United States and to photograph the nation’s industries.  

“Bourke-White on the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building, N.Y.” (1934)

“Bourke-White on the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building, NY “(1934) (photographer Oscar Graubner), was part of a commission by the Chrysler Company in 1930 to chronicle the construction of the building.  After the building was completed, Bourke-White was so admired the building she managed to acquire a suite on the 61st floor, across from the gargoyles. The suite was her studio from 1930-1933.  Although the photograph depicts Bourke-White photographing while sitting on top of a Gargoyle, she continued to photograph New York from the 61st floor of the seventy-seven story building. To say that she was adventurous is an understatement, but this was only the beginning.  She named the gargoyles Min and Bill and kept two pet alligators on the balconies outside her studio. 

From 1929 onward, after her reputation was established, she took her mother’s maiden name Bourke and thereafter would be known as Margaret Bourke-White. In 1930, Bourke-White went on assignment to Germany to photograph the industry there and managed to finagle her way into Russia.  She was the first American to photograph Russian industries, which she did as she traveled on the Trans-Siberian Railway.  She traveled 5000 miles and took over 800 photographs. Her first book Eye on Russia was published in 1931.  Beginning in 1934, she took on other assignments in addition to TIME and FORTUNE for Luce.

“World’s Highest Standard of Living – There’s no way like the American Way “ (1937)

For an article, titled “The Drought” in the NATION she photographed the depression from the air in an ancient airplane. This experience was extremely influential in widening her subject matter of her camera. “I was deeply moved by the suffering I saw and touched particularly by the bewilderment of the farmers. I think this was the beginning of my awareness of people in a human, sympathetic sense as subjects for the camera and photographed against a wider canvas than I had perceived before.  During the rapturous period when I was discovering the beauty of industrial shapes, people were only incidental to me. And in retrospect I believe I had not much feeling for them in my earlier work. But suddenly it was the people who counted.” She is not the most famous female photographer of the depression and the dust bowl; however, her images were the first shown to the public and had a major impact.  Her photograph “World’s Highest Standard of Living – There’s no way like the American Way” (1937), taken after the Louisville flood,  is a famous example of her new-found subject matter.  In 1937 she began collaborating with Erskine Caldwell, author of God’s Little Acre and Tobacco Road, to taking photographs for his proposed book on southern sharecroppers.  The book You Have Seen Their Faces, published November 1937, was a great success. 

“Fort Peck Dam, Montana” (1936)

In 1936, Bourke-White received from Luce a full-time contract as head photographer for his new magazine LIFE.  Bourke-White’s photo “Fort Peck, Dam, Montana” (1936) was the cover shot for the first issue of LIFE magazine.  The issue sold out in hours, and within four months the initial circulation of 380,000 jumped to over one million.

Overall view of central  Moscow with anti aircraft gunner over Red Square” (1941)

Bourke-White and by then her husband, Erskine Caldwell, traveled to Moscow in 1941 anticipating the imminent breakdown of the non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia.  They were there when Germany began the bombardment of Moscow.  Bourke-White was the only foreign photographer to witness and to photograph the attack.  The full descriptive title, “Overall view of central Moscow with antiaircraft gunner over Red Square, the spires of the Kremlin silhouetted by German Luftwaffe flares, July 26, 1941”, gave Bourke-White another first, the first female war correspondent. She also managed to get an interview with Stalin.

Before and during World War II, Bourke-White was sent on numerous missions with the military.  She spent time in England photographing preparations for war.  The April 29, 1940, issue of LIFE used her photograph of Winston Churchill, titled “Britain’s Warlord.” In 1941 she was in Tunis, attached to the US Army Air Force in North Africa, and in 1942 she became the official photographer for the Air Force. She went on raids on destroyers; she was torpedoed, sunk, and lost her negatives twice. She went with General Patton’s Third Army and entered Buchenwald with them.  She earned the name “Maggie the indestructible.” 

“Gandhi” (1946)

Bourke-White spent two years in India and Pakistan photographing the struggle between the Hindu’s and Muslims that often included scenes of massacres and famine. On January 30, 1948, she had a long interview with Mahatma Gandhi.  She wrote that she had to learn to spin before she could see him.  When she asked him why, he responded, “If you want a picture of a man spinning, give some thought to why he spins. Understanding is as important for a photographer as the equipment he uses.” The interview with Gandhi was important to Bourke-White.  She wanted it to be the last entry in her planned book on the partitioning of India and Pakistan. She observed that Gandhi “had no ambition to re-shape the structure of society; he only wanted to re-shape the individual human heart. “ 

“Gandhi’s Funeral” (1948)

At the end of the interview she wanted to shake hands, but knew that in India only her husband could touch a woman’s hand.  “I folded my hands together. But Gandhi held out his hand to me and shook hands cordially in the Western fashion.  We said good-bye and I started off. Then something made me turn back.  Perhaps it was because his manner had been so friendly. I stopped, looked over my shoulder and said, ‘Good-bye and good luck’.”  A few hours later, as Gandhi walked to the raised lawn platform at Birla House to conduct a daily multi-family prayer meeting, he was assassinated.

Bourke-White’s continued her adventurous life as a photographer. She photographed , among other things, the situation of gold miners in Johannesburg and guerilla warfare in the Korean War. Stricken with Parkinson’s disease in 1953, she continued a limited career with LIFE until 1971. She published her autobiography Portrait of Myself in 1963. “We all find something that is just right for us, and after I found the camera I never really felt a whole person again unless I was planning pictures of taking them.”

NOTE:  Bourke-White’s numerous books are still available today.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning.  She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Religious art created to tell the story of Christ’s birth was influenced by many sources beyond Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and numerous verses from Old Testament prophets.  Since Christianity began, religious individuals have written down their thoughts and visions adding to the events surrounding Christ’s birth. Some of these writing were accepted by the Catholic Church as legitimate, while other texts, although disputed, were still available.  Artists and their patrons, from the Byzantine period to the Renaissance, liberally employed these stories and symbols in their art. Churches and wealthy nobles commissioned all of the art work, and had artists include persons and symbols that they desired.  Thousands of images of the birth of Christ were produced.

Two separate incidents are frequently conflated in works of art depicting the birth of Christ.  “On the eight day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was names Jesus, the name the angel had given before he had been conceived” (Luke 2: 21). When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, Every firstborn make to be consecrated the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with that is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons” (Luke 2: 22). The Catholic calendar celebrates these events on two separate days.  The Circumcision of Jesus is celebrated on January 1, and the Purification is celebrated on February 2, forty days later as specified by Mosaic Law.  

Bernardo Luini’s painting, “Circumcision” (1520), depicts the two events, but emphasizes the circumcision.  Mary and Joseph have returned to the temple in Jerusalem from Bethlehem.  The setting is in an Italian Renaissance church and the Mohel (Rabbi) holds up a scalpel about to perform the ritual.  In an unusual depiction, Jesus holds onto Mary’s arm for support. Mary is elegantly dressed in a red dress and dark green cloak, rather than in the traditional royal blue.  The sleeves of her garments are heavily embroidered with gold and her cloak is closed at the neck with a wide gold band.  Mary is the only figure in the scene given a halo.  In keeping with the artistic tradition, Mary is a young woman, and Joseph is a middle ages man with a beard.  His robes too are resplendent with gold, and he has brought two doves in a basket to the Temple for the Purification.  A roundel on the altar depicts the Old Testament story of Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac.  An angel flies in above Abraham’s head and grasps his arm to prevent the sacrifice. Isaac was not sacrificed, but Jesus will be. A number of spectators look on. In many cases they would be portraits of family who commissioned the painting. 

The Golden Legend (1275) explains the circumcision was necessary to show the Jews that Jesus was human.  The act served to remove any excuse for the Jews not to acknowledged Jesus as the promised savior. Mary and Joseph strictly followed Mosaic Law (Law of Moses). The Golden Legend continues to explain the significance of the Circumcision as the first of five times Christ shed blood for our redemption. 

“Presentation of the Temple” (1304-06)

Giotto’s fresco “Presentation to the Temple” (1304-06) (Arena Chapel, Padua) completes Luke’s description of the two events. Mosaic Law requires a woman to wait forty days after giving birth to a male child before going to the Temple to be purified and to redeem her first born son.  Joseph holds the pair of doves, an offering given in memory of the first born of Egypt. The book of Leviticus and The Golden Legend state a woman who has a male child is unclean for seven days, and cannot enter the Temple for thirty-three more days.  At that time she offers gifts to buy back her child, and the child’s soul is then infused into his body.  If the child was female, the mother must wait twice as long, since Christ chose to be born a man, males would grew faster, women had sinned more, starting with Eve, and their suffering should be doubled.  

Giotto’s painting is a fresco, water based paint on a plaster wall.  Mary’s outer blue robe and Joseph’s under robe have lost most of their blue paint, as has much of the blue sky.  Blue paint was the most delicate of the colors. Giotto was the first artist to place figures before a blue sky rather than the gold sky of the previous Byzantine style. Giotto also was the first artist to be able to depict figures with weight and to appear as if they were standing on the ground.  Although he was not able to show emotion on the faces of his figures, his use of gestures to generate emotions were unparalleled.  His achievements were the major influence for Italian Renaissance artists in the next century.

“Presentation” (1605)

Ludovico Carracci’s painting “Presentation” (1605) fulfills the promise of Giotto’s art and completes the story started in Luke 2: 21-28.  In the temple, was Simon, an elderly man with a long white beard reaches out to hold Jesus. Simon was one of the scribes who copied and translated the Book of Isaiah for Pharaoh Ptolemy II of Egypt (260 BCE). Coming to the passage, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call him Emmanuel,” (Isaiah 1: 14), Simon thought this could not be right and crossed it out. The next morning the sentence had been rewritten in the document. Simon crossed the sentence out three times, but each morning it reappeared.  Finally accepting that a virgin would bear a son, Simon prayed to live to see such a thing.  Simon, now over two hundred sixty years old, reaches out to hold and accept the miraculous child.  Next to Simon is the prophetess Anna, the decrepit old woman holding the stone tablet.  Anna prophesied great things for Jesus but will not reach out and will not embrace him. 

Mont Joie” (1420)

 On January 6, thirteen days after Christ’s birth, the Magi reached Jerusalem.  In the time of the holy Crusades (1099-1221), structures called Mont Joie’s were constructed. From these sites one could see Jerusalem.  The “Mount Joie” (1420) (Limbourg Brothers,Tres Riches Heures) depicted in this illuminated manuscript is an elaborate Gothic structure with pointed arches and numerous pinnacles and spires.  Three gold draped female figures, presumably Faith, Hope and Charity, can be seen inside. Three gilded warrior figures appear at the top. The Magi and their retinues come from three different directions and are dressed in colorful silks and brocade from the East. Trade in these fabrics along the Silk Road was established by 130 BCE-1453 CE. The figures presumably are intended to illustrate their nations of origin, but are most drawn from the artists imagination.  The oldest Magi with a white beard and rides a white horse. The middle aged Magi with the brown beard rides a gray horse.  The youngest Magi is clean shaven.  This artistic tradition of showing age by hair color and beard was established early in painting and did not end until the Italian Renaissance when artists began to understand how to render faces with the appropriate signs of age.  Exotic animals accompany the Magi: a lion climbs a hill behind the Mont Joie, two cheetahs and two camels accompany the middle aged Magi, and a brown bear and small green lizard look on from the right. 

“Three Magi” (505 CE)

Epiphany (epi meaning above and phanos an appearance), is celebrated on January 6. According to Matthew 2: 1-2: “Magi from the east came to Jerusalem” seeking the “star of Jacob” and the King of the Jews. They were following a sign in the heavens prophesized by Baalem, a diviner in the Book of Numbers (24: 17). The Bible does not specify the number of Magi, but it tells of gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Magi were wise men and astronomers. “The Magi” (505 CE) (Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna), a mosaic, depicts three men in Persian dress and wearing red Phrygian caps. Tertullian the Christian (160-230 CE) determined that the three gifts were gifts were ones that would be given from a King to a King.  In the Sixth Century, it was decided to give the Magi/Kings names from the ancient Mesopotamian list of the gods.  Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar are written above their heads.  The Byzantine gold sky, green grass with flowering plants, and date palm trees complete this scene.

“Adoration of the Magi” (1423)

Gentile da Fabriano’s altarpiece,“Adoration of the Magi” (1423) (9’11’’ x 9’3’’),  is an excellent combination of early Italian Renaissance mixed with the International Gothic style.  It was commissioned by Pala Strozzi, one of the very wealthy Florentine nobleman.  It is a complete altarpiece with an elaborately carved and gilded wood frame.  The first of three top scenes depicts the angel Gabriel, who delivering the Annunciation to Mary, with two Old Testament prophets who foretell the birth of Christ. In the center, God is depicted with Moses and the Ten Commandments and King David, the ancestor of Christ.  In the third scene, Mary is accepting the message from Gabriel and is shown with two other Old Testament prophets. The three panels across the bottom are called predella and tell the early part of the Nativity story.  In sequence from left to right they are the Nativity with the mid-wives and annunciation to the shepherds; Mary, Joseph, and the Child on the way to Jerusalem; and Mary and Joseph presentation of Jesus to the Temple for purification and circumcision.  The main altar depicts the Adoration of the Magi.  Across the top Fabriano shows the journey of the Magi as they follow the star in search of the newborn King of the Jews.  

The major scene, the three Magi/Kings adoring the child, fills the forefront. The older figure has fallen on his knees and removed his crown in deference to the new king.  The middle aged Magi/King reaches up to remove his crown, and the youngest, standing out in his red tights, is having his spurs removed as he waits his turn.  One hopes his attendant in blue will not be trampled. All of the figures, including the two mid-wives and the entourage are richly dressed.  Christ, although only thirteen days old, sits upright and reaches out His hand to the elder Magi/King.  In adoration of the Magi scenes, Jesus is represented as having both knowledge of his intended purpose and physical abilities beyond that of a newborn. 

The setting combines the cave/stable and stone and wood structure of a stable, and the ox and the ass. Fabriano has included several animals in the scene. Foremost is a muzzled grey hound, a prized status symbol of the wealthy. Several beautifully caparisoned horses are crowded in the right hand corner. Fabriano, trying to show the horses in three dimensions, is not successful.  It is an interesting to study and image the reality of the people and horses in this congested space.

Numerous exotic animals have come from the East with the Magi. Careful observation will reveal a snarling cheetah between two horse’s heads. Moving farther into the crowd, a lion’s head, a pelican nest, two monkeys, and two hawks can be found.  Big cats were prized animals in a Prince’s’ collection as they represented among other things power and strength.  Hawks, known for their great speed and incredible eyesight, were used for hunting and symbolic of intuition. The pelican was a spiritual icon; a mother pelican would feed her babies by striking her own breast to give her body and blood if necessary. Christ gave his body and blood to save his children as is celebrated in the Eucharist 

“Adoration of the Magi’’ (1504)

The Venerable Bede (673-735), an English Benedictine Monk, described the nature of Christ by the gifts he was given:  gold for His royalty, frankincense for His divinity, and myrrh for His mortality. St Bernard (12th Century) found more practical reasons for the gifts.  The gold would keep the holy family from poverty in Egypt, the frankincense would help to purify the smells in the stable, and myrrh would drive the worms contracted in stables from Christ’s entrails. In the thirteenth Century it was also decided that the Magi represented Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Albrecht Durer’s “Adoration of the Magi” (1504) (39 x 44.7’’) depicts this last development.  The oldest Magi, the European, has removed his crown, and kneels before Jesus and Mary.  The blond, long- bearded middle aged Magi, however is not Asian.  Although it was determined he would be Asian, no artist attempted to create this impression.  This is Durer’s self portrait. He frequently placed himself as a character in religious scenes.  He was one of the early artists to include an African male as the third Magi. 

Durer had traveled to Florence and had seen Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished “Adoration of the Magi” (1481-82). Durer liberally copied the background scenery from da Vinci.  The falling stone walls and crumbing Roman arches represent the old law of Rome.  He also included da Vinci’s group of Roman soldiers on horseback in the far right.  The newly built stable in the foreground, is his addition to the scenery, and it represents the new law of Christ.  Two butterflies are perched next to the Virgin and are symbols of the resurrection of Christ:  as the butterfly emerges from the cocoon as Christ emerged from the tomb. The plants and greens, identifiable to a close observer, growing from the stones also have symbolic meanings but are always indicative of regeneration and new life.  

Small but not insignificant are the ant and the beetle. The ant is next to Mary and the butterflies. Although thought to be small and weak, ants are frequently observed in the Bible as symbols of cooperation, organization, providing for the future.  They were observed to work together to build and to store food for the future.  The beetle, seen in the lower right hand corner, in the form of the scarab/dung beetle, was a symbol from Egypt,  Egyptians observed the female beetle rolled what they thought was a ball of earth ahead of her, and they thought baby beetles were born from this earth. To them it was a sign of a miraculous transformation and birth.  The arrival of the beetles also signaled the coming of the annual flooding of the Nile.  Thus the beetle represented hard work, creativity, and good luck.  Roman Catholic artist painted copious symbols is their paintings, as everything on this earth was created by God and had a meaning and purpose. 

“Toppling of the Pagan Idols” (1423)

The Gospel of Matthew 2:11-14, tells that after the Magi left, an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt, as King Herod would look for Jesus to kill him.  Herod ordered the massacre of all male children of one year and younger, the act recalling Pharaohs’ order to massacre the first born children of the Jews. Several miraculous events are recorded during the journey.  Josephus the Historian (37-100 CE) wrote that Mary and Joseph traveled on robbers’ paths to avoid detection.  When they came upon robbers, a young robber stopped the other from robbing them. According to Josephus Mary said to the robber: “The Lord God will receive this to his right hand and grant thee pardon for thy sins.”  This was Dismas the good thief, who was crucified with Christ and was believed to have been forgiven.  Pseudo Matthew records that when the holy family entered Egypt, trees bowed down to Jesus and idols fell as prophesied by Isaiah.  “Toppling of the Pagan Idols” (1423) (Bedford Master) depicts one such idol falling.  The sculpture on top of the column appears to come to life and is aware he is falling, and comically displays a startled expression.

The manuscript image, “The Flight into Egypt” (1400) (Limbourg Brothers, Tres Riches Heures), depicts two separate stories. The Gospel of Pseudo Matthew tells the story of the palm tree. On their journey, Mary saw a palm tree, and tired and thirsty, she asked Joseph to pick her some fruit. ”Then the child Jesus, who was sitting on her knee, ordered the palm-tree to bow down and let his mother eat of the fruit at her pleasure.  As the tree still continued to bow, Jesus permitted it to resume its upright position, and, for its devotion, chose it as tree of eternal life for the dying, and declared he would make his triumphal entry into Jerusalem with a palm branch in his hand.”  The Limbourg Brothers chose to depict Jesus as young boy in a gold robe giving fruit to two other boys.  Also included are the two midwives and the back ends of the ox and the ass. Inclusion extraneous figures are often found in works of art created for specific patrons and included at their request.  More than one story describing trees bowing down to Christ were written and were included in both the journey to Bethlehem for the Nativity and the flight into Egypt.  

The lower scene of the manuscript depicts a favorite story. As the family passed a farmer just sowing his wheat field, Mary tells him that if anyone asks about them he should tell them they passed this way when I was sowing this wheat.  Mary could not lie and would not ask anyone else to do so. Overnight the wheat grew tall and the next day when the soldiers of Herod asked, the farmer, who was harvesting his wheat could answer truthfully, they passed here when I was sowing this wheat.

Happy Epiphany to all, and  May 2021 bring you health and peace.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning.  She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Many artists have depicted the Christmas story from the the New Testament. From 313 CE (Edict of Milan) when Constantine declared the Roman Empire to be Christian, other sources influenced these stories. Many of these sources, some as old as the New Testament, were excluded from the official texts in the Bible for various reasons, although many are included in the Catholic Bible. Other books were written during the early Christian and Middle Ages to amplify the significance of Christ’s birth. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (2nd Century, Rome), Protoevangelium of James (2nd Century Rome), Gold Legend (1275), St Bridget Vision of the Nativity (1372),(Sweden), and the works of the Venerable Bede (673-735), and others were major sources for artists when depicting the stories surrounding the birth of Christ. These stories were used in both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox art.

“Journey to Bethlehem” (1320)

Caesar Augustus decreed a tax on all Roman citizens of one silver penny as a token of submission to Rome and as a census. In the mosaic “Journey to Bethlehem “(1320) (Chora Church, Istanbul), Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem to pay their tax. Mary rides on a donkey, made clear by it’s long ears, and Joseph walks behind. Both wear golden halos. Joseph is shown as an old man as he was a widower with several children. At fourteen Mary left her service in the Temple and of marriageable age was betrothed to Joseph. This Byzantine mosaic is typical in the Eastern Orthodox Church where all stories take place in heaven; the gold background represents the golden light of heaven and of God. On the journey to Bethlehem, the Infancy of Christ Gospel of Thomas recalls that on their way Mary and Joseph saw groups of people rejoicing and others lamenting. Mary asked the angel, who was guarding them, who these people were? The angel replies, “Those who rejoice are the people of the heathen who in Abraham’s seed are about to be admitted to eternal bliss. Those who grieve are the people of the Jews, for God is about the cast them out in accordance with their deserts.”

“Nativity” (Lorenzo Monaco) (1414)

Lorenzo Monaco’s “Nativity” (1414) (12.5 x 20.8’’) depicts Mary and Joseph with their new born son and the ox and ass in a stable/cave. The Protoevangelium of James, a Coptic text translated from Greek (2nd Century), reveals Joseph found a cave for them because there was no room for them in the inns. In the Holy Lands there were many caves, and these were used for stables. In the early Italian Renaissance, artists frequently combined the two structures; a stable roof, familiar to Italians, is built over a cave. On either side of the stable roof are blue and robed angels radiating golden streams of light and praising God. According to St Bridget’s vision (1372), Christ is not wrapped in swaddling clothes but is laid on the ground nude, and his radiance keeps him warm. Mary wears, what becomes a tradition, a rich blue robe with gold edging. Joseph’s robe is likewise edged in gold. These rich garments, not typical for a carpenter and his wife, were a part of the popular International Gothic style of art, in which gold was liberally applied to Holy figures dressed in rich garments. The elaborate gold frame, also International Gothic, was in the favored Gothic quatrefoil design. Unlike many paintings of this time, Joseph’s hand is raised in blessing. More frequently, artists did not know what to do with Joseph and often showed him sleeping. In other paintings Joseph is shown cutting up his socks to make swaddling clothes, getting water, cooking supper, or applying his trade as a carpenter fixing up the stable. Symbolically the ruined stable, sometimes consisting of a crumbling Roman column, represented the old law of the Jews, while any newly built repairs represented the new law of Jesus.

“First Bath”

Several versions of the Nativity story mention that two midwives assisted Mary with the birth and the bathing the Christ child. Pseudo Bonaventura (1300), recalls that Mary gave birth standing against a pillar in the stable, a precursor to Christ’s flagellation. The inspiration for many paintings of the Nativity came from St Bridget of Sweden (1372). She described her mystic vision of the Nativity: “And while she was standing thus in prayer, I saw the child in her womb move and suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her son, from whom radiated such an ineffable light and splendor, that the sun was not comparable to it, nor did the candle that St. Joseph had put there, give any light at all, the divine light totally annihilating the material light of the candle…. I saw the glorious infant lying on the ground naked and shining. His body was pure from any kind of soil and impurity. Then I heard also the singing of the angels, which was of miraculous sweetness and great beauty.”

The Protoevangelium tells of an unexpected encounter between Joseph and Salome. He was seeking for a midwife for Mary and she for a new mother. A spectacular vision appeared to her when she arrived at the stable and she immediately believed in the miracle of the child. Salome had a withered hand and at that moment an angel appeared to her and told her to pick up the child; her hand was whole and she exclaimed: “I will do him worship, for a great king is born unto Israel.” The Salome and the other midwife, whose name varies in different texts, proceed to bath the Child. Ritual baths plays play a major role in Jewish history. Water was scarce and therefore bathing was a significant event used for purification from many types of impure things. Three white turtle doves are perched on the ceiling beams. White doves are iconic symbols of the Holy Spirit and always symbolized purity. Three of anything also references the Holy Trinity, which has now been made complete.

“Nativity” (1310-20)

The “Nativity” (1310-20) (English Missal) and the “First Bath” depict another aspect of the Nativity story. The ox and the ass appear as gentle and smiling creatures in the “First Bath.”The ox holds the swaddling cloth while the child is bathed. The ox and ass help to keep the child warm as they breathe on him. They watch over the child and straighten the swaddling clothes. The ox and ass are not mentioned as being present in the New Testament, but they are almost always included in Nativity scenes. The Infancy Gospel of Matthew (800), states that Mary left the cave on the third day and went into the stable, placing the child in a manger: “And an ox and an ass bent their knees and worshipped him. Therefore, the animals, the ox and ass, with him in their midst incessantly adored him. Then was fulfilled that which was said by Habakkuk the prophet, saying ‘Between two animals you made manifest’.” More significant was Isaiah 1: 3: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” The ox is symbolic of Israel and considered a clean animal. The ass represents the Gentiles and considered unclean. In the stable the Jewish and the Gentile world have come together. However, the Jews do not recognize Jesus. The ass is a mindless beast of burden, but is the animal of choice when Jesus rides into Jerusalem. The first Nativity crèche to include an ox and ass was created by St Francis of Assisi, who wanted to see and feel the reality of the manger.

“Annunciation to the Shepherds” (1405-08)

According the Bible, shepherds were nearby tending their flocks when angels appeared in heaven praising God and saying, “Gloria in ex Celsius Deo.” The “Annunciation to the Shepherds” (1405-08) (Book of Hours of Marshal of Boucicaut) is an elaborate International French Gothic scene with the city of Bethlehem, depicted as a French country village. Included in the scene is an attentive sheep dog, three shepherds, a flock of sheep, and a pond with a goose and white swan. The white swan was a symbol of feminine beauty and virginity, light, and innocence among other meanings. Sheep were significant to the Jews as their major source of sustenance, and for Christians, sheep were a symbol for God’s people.

The shepherds are depicted as common people and clothed in plain garments. In the Old Testament, Jews were frequently visited by angel messengers and so were not afraid to hear and see them. The scene is populated with elaborate flowering trees that served two purposes: they add to the International Gothic elegance and whether the artist knew it or not, December in the Holy Lands would probably be warm enough to support the flowers. Biblical sources often mention flowers blooming on the night of the Nativity.

“Adoration of the Shepherds” (1670)

“Adoration of the Shepherds” (1670) (Domenichino), from the Baroque period, depicts joyful and adoring shepherds worshipping the Child. It was typical to see both male and female shepherds with their children bringing gifts to manger. A young boy holds two turtle doves to give as gifts, and a shepherd piper plays for the Child. Gifts of food included eggs, bread and fruit are often presented at the manger. Two different ranks of angels are shown, one group of three cherubs look down from above, and another group of three angels kneel adoringly at the manger. In the background, Joseph is feeding wheat to the ox and ass. The birth of Jesus takes place in the city of Bethlehem which means ‘house of wheat.’ Wheat was thought to ease the pains of child birth and was often available for births. St Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine who recognized Christianity, was said to have found the straw from the manger three hundred years later because the animals recognized its significance and did not eat it.

With the addition of the shepherds to the manger scene, The Golden Legend (1275) states that at Christ’s birth, “it was revealed to every class of creature, from the stones, which are at the bottom of the scale d creation, to the angels, who are at the summit.” Inanimate things with existence reacted to the birth when “the darkness of night was changed to the brightness of day…the water of a spring changed to oil. The Nativity was revealed to the creatures which possessed existence and life, such as the plants and trees. For in the night of the Savior’s birth, the vines of Engedi bloomed, bore fruit, and produced their wine. The Nativity was revealed to the creatures possessed of existence, life, and sensation, that is, to the animals. The ox and ass, miraculously recognizing the Lord, knelt before Him and adored Him. The Nativity was revealed to the creatures possessed of existence, life, sensation, and reason, that is, to men [the shepherds]. Finally, the Nativity was revealed to the creatures who possessed existence, life, sensation, reason, and knowledge, namely to the angels; for it was the angels themselves, as we have just seen, who announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds.”

“Ara Coeli” (1410-14)

On the day of the Nativity of Christ’s birth The Golden Legend (1275) records Pope Innocent III (Pope 1198-1216) story of the “Ara Coeli” (1410-14) (Christine de Pisan Epistle Otheo). At this time the Roman Senate voted to declare Octavian (Caesar Augustus) a god. Caesar consulted with the Tibertine Sibyl and asked if this was his time to except divinity. Caesar and the Sibyl were alone, and “she saw a golden ring appear around the sun. In the middle of the circle stood a Virgin, of wondrous beauty, holding a child upon her bosom. A voice was heard which said: ‘This woman is the Altar of Heaven’ (Ara Coeli). And the Sibyl said to him: “This child will be greater than thou.” Another version of the event records the Sibyl as saying: “From the sky will come a king who will reign in human form for centuries and judge the world. This child is greater than you; also adore it.” All versions agree, Augustus immediately knelt down and worshipped the Child. This vision was said to appear on the highest hill, the Campidoglio, next to the Roman Forum and Senate. On that spot, Augustus built an altar to the “Lord of Heaven.” The church of St Mary in Ara Coeli now stands in that spot. As a result of this miraculous vision, Octavian declined divinity. He did accept divinity later and became Augustus.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning.  She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.