The Nativity 1511

Albrecht Dürer made this woodcut of the Nativity in Germany sometime around the year 1504. The scene shows the infant Jesus, Mary, Joseph and adoring shepherds sheltered in a tumbledown shack, a sharp contrast to the grand churches that were being built at the time. Dürer has filled the scene with details of everyday life, drawing attention to the material conditions of the Holy Family. Dürer was working during the Reformation, a time when the authority of the Catholic Church was being challenged. His choice to depict the Nativity in such humble surroundings might be seen as a commentary on the Church's wealth and power. Art historians might look at records of religious life at the time, considering theological debates or even sermons, to deepen their understanding of the image. The meaning of a work like this is bound up with the specific social and institutional context in which it was made.