Nativity scenes reign supreme as the most charming image of Christmas. An assortment of figures from splendid kings to simple shepherds with a few animals—exotic or domestic—gather around a newborn child: What’s not to love? In Italy, families vie for the most elaborate arrangements, replete with running water and working lights. The unveiling of the Nativity scene in St Peter’s Square garners almost as much excitement as the World Cup.
The Bethlehem of the West
There could be no better site for a first crèche than this fifth-century basilica built in honor of Mary as “Theotokos” or “God Bearer.” This title conferred on Jesus’s mother during the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) inspired Pope Sixtus III to construct the first church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the West. Two centuries after its construction, the basilica was given an extraordinary relic: five pieces of wood from the manger where Jesus was placed after his birth in Bethlehem. These were a gift from the Patriarch of Jerusalem to Pope Theodore I shortly before Palestine fell to the Rashidun Califate in 640. Already the “station church” where the pope celebrated Christmas Mass, St. Mary Major was soon dubbed “St. Mary of the Manger” as well as “The Bethlehem of the West,” thanks to these relics.
The fragments of the crib, together with the remains of St. Jerome (also brought from Bethlehem), were placed in a small chapel annexed to the church that simulated the cave where Christ was born. The shrine was later subsumed into the grand burial chapel of Pope Sixtus V, but for centuries it was a special site of pilgrimage. It was here that Arnolfo’s figures were first installed, intended to enhance the pilgrim’s experience of the relics through the three paired statues of the Madonna and Child; the ox and donkey; Caspar and Balthazar; as well as the single blocks of Joseph and Melchior. The figures stood between one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half feet tall, forming a monumental backdrop for the simple slabs of wood.
The Unsung Sculptor
Arnolfo di Cambio remains an unsung hero of the Italian proto-Renaissance. Born near Siena around 1245, he studied under Nicola Pisano who was among the first to emulate ancient models in his work. Arnolfo followed his master to Bologna and Pisa, but eventually came to Rome where he reinvented the altar canopy, produced a life-size bronze statue of St. Peter for the homonymous basilica, and carved this first Nativity scene. He was then lured to Florence to design the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore where he died before 1310.
The first of its kind, Arnolfo’s crèche was innovative on several different levels. Even though the figures were carved in high relief instead of freestanding, they were not meant to lie flat against the wall, but to be grouped in a cave-like setting, evoking the famous night of St. Francis’ miracle at Greccio. Arnolfo carved only the heads of the ox and donkey, making it appear as if they were peering into the scene from over a trough. Two of the Magi stand in a single block creating a background, or sense of progression, as they wait to make their obeisance.
Arnolfo paid special attention to the fine details etched into the subject’s robes and decorated the background with a tapestry effect. The eldest king, Melchior, kneels before the Christ Child, focusing attention on the key part of the story. Joseph stands apart, almost like a pendant to the beholder: a regular person privy to extraordinary events.
Some scholars surmise that there might have been a total of eight pieces, including a pair of prophets, but if so, those figures have been lost. Even the present Madonna and Child are a 16th-century replacement. Arnolfo also heralded the new Renaissance style through the interaction among the figures. The opened-mouthed wonder of the young magus, gesticulating to the older sage, contrasts with the quiet meditation of St. Joseph. The body language of the figures and the interest in their respective gaze presaged what would soon be known as the Golden Age of art.
The Magi were the most represented subject in early Christian art: an image of hope to the Gentiles, or non-Jews, that the story of salvation had a place for them as well. These exotic figures from different lands and traditions, represented the universal mission of Christianity, tasked with bringing the good news to the whole world.
At the time this work was commissioned, the land where Moses, David, and Christ had lived was lost to Christendom, conquered by Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria. As St. Francis had charmed the Sultan of Egypt with his preaching in 1219, so Pope Nicholas IV, despite the seemingly dire situation for Christians, continued to proclaim its hope for unity through this commission.
Standing in the small chapel reminiscent of a cave, Arnolfo’s stone figures evoked the constancy of over a 1,000 years of veneration of this child born in the most averse of circumstances. That constancy saw the Christian faith grow from a small, persecuted religion, into the faith that inspired some of the most beautiful art in the world, including the glittering skin of mosaics coating the basilica of St. Mary Major. This display invites one to hope that poverty, hardship, and suffering can be transformed into timeless joy and beauty—the true source of Christmas cheer.
