Sandro Botticelli, ''Mystic Nativity'', 1500

'Mystic Nativity'

Sandro Botticelli

Not on display

About the work

Overview

The infant Christ reaches up towards the Virgin Mary, oblivious of his visitors – the Three Kings on the left and the shepherds on the right. The golden dome of heaven has opened up and is circled by 12 angels holding olive branches entwined with scrolls and hung with crowns. In the foreground, three pairs of angels and men embrace; among their feet demons scuttle for shelter in the underworld through cracks in the rocks.

The Greek inscription mentions ‘the troubles of Italy’, a reference to the invasion of the French, who took Naples in 1494 and Milan in 1499, and to the civil strife in Florence itself. Botticelli associated these events with the turmoil mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelation, which talks about the end of the world and Christ’s second coming. The period of upheaval it described would end upon Christ’s return, when the devil would be buried, as in this picture.

In-depth

Christ’s birth is celebrated as the glorious revelation of God on Earth in this unique and colourful image by Botticelli. No fewer than 20 angels – all carrying leafy olive branches, a symbol of peace – preside over the revelry.

The event takes place in a glade within a forest; the stable where, according to the Gospel writers, Christ was born, is represented imaginatively as a thatched roof pitched over the opening of a rocky cavern. The infant Christ reaches up towards the Virgin Mary, oblivious of his visitors – the Three Kings on the left and the shepherds on the right, who have been ushered towards him by angels. The golden dome of heaven has opened up and become visible from earth; it is circled by 12 angels holding olive branches entwined with scrolls and hung with crowns which swing as they dance.

The meeting of the divine and the human in the newborn Christ is shown symbolically in the dance-like embrace of three pairs of angels and men who form a rhythmic frieze in the foreground. Among their feet, winged demons and horned little devils scuttle for shelter in the underworld through cracks in the rocks. This is an unusual sight in a nativity scene but it is key to the understanding of Botticelli’s mystical creation, as revealed by the inscription at the top. In this, Botticelli interprets contemporary political events – which he calls ‘the troubles of Italy’ – in the light of the biblical Book of Revelation, which foretells the details of the end of the world and Christ’s second coming. The ‘troubles’ are probably a reference to the invasion of the French, who took Naples in 1494 and Milan in 1499, and to the civil strife in Florence itself. Botticelli has associated these events with chapter 11 of Revelation, which describes the invasion of the Holy City by Gentiles and the devil being unleashed. Christ’s return to earth would bring an end to this period of upheaval and the devil would be buried, as in this picture.

The apocalyptic message of the inscription reflects the teachings of Girolamo Savonarola, the popular and radical preacher whose sermons were causing a stir in Florence from the 1490s. After the death of Lorenzo de' Medici and the expulsion of his son Piero, Savonarola’s power in the city – now leaderless – grew even stronger, and Botticelli is thought to have been a keen follower. Savonarola saw the French invasion as divine retribution for the moral demise of the Italian states and was equally critical of what he saw as the overly luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Florence. He isolated the city from its closest allies, particularly the Pope, and was eventually publicly executed in 1498.

After the political turbulence of the previous decade and the death of his spiritual and moral guide, Botticelli in this picture looks forward to the fulfilment of peace and to man’s reconciliation with God, as initiated by the Incarnation and expected to be achieved fully, according to the Book of Revelation, with Christ’s return.

Key facts

Details

Full title: 'Mystic Nativity'
Artist: Sandro Botticelli
Artist dates: about 1445 - 1510
Date made: 1500
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 108.6 × 74.9 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated and inscribed
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1878
Inventory number: NG1034
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: William Fuller Maitland

William Young Ottley
Frame: 16th-century Spanish Frame

Provenance

From the Villa Aldobrandini at Rome. W. Young Ottley Sale, London, 25 May, 1811 (lot 32), bought in; W. Young Ottley Sale, 4 March, 1837 (lot 75), bought by Brown. Purchased from Smith in 1847 by W. Fuller Maitland of Stansted Hall. Exhibited at Manchester, 1857 (Provisional Catalogue, No. 51; Definitive Catalogue, No. 78); at Leeds, 1868 (No. 32); at the R.A., 1871 (No. 278); and at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1871 (No. 21). Stansted Hall Catalogue, 1872, p. 8. Exhibited with other Fuller Maitland pictures at the South Kensington Museum in the 1870’s. Purchased from W. Fuller Maitland, 1878.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2011

Botticelli

Biblioteca Ambrosiana

9 November 2011 - 5 February 2012
2015

Botticelli Reimagined

Gemäldegalerie (Berlin)

25 September 2015 - 24 January 2016

Victoria and Albert Museum

5 March 2016 - 3 July 2016
2017

Frederic William Burton: For the Love of Art

National Gallery of Ireland

24 October 2017 - 14 January 2018
2023

Botticelli Drawings

Legion of Honor (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)

18 November 2023 - 11 February 2024

Bibliography

1811

J. Christie, A Catalogue of a Truly Capital and Highly Valuable Assemblage: Chiefly of Distinguished Italian, and a few Spanish, French, Flemish and Dutch Pictures: William Young Ottley Collection, London, 25 May 1811
1837

Christie & Manson, A Catalogue of the Highly Interesting Assemblage of Italian Pictures: Collected… by… the Late William Young Ottley, London, 4 March 1837
1838

G.F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, trans. H. Lloyd, vol. 2, London 1838
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1871

S. Colvin, 'The Date and Superscription of Mr Fuller Maitland's Botticelli', The Academy, 1871
1871

W.B. Scott, 'Review of the Royal Academy's Exhibition of Old Masters', The Academy, 1871
1872

W.F. Maitland, Catalogue of Pictures at Stansted Hall, n.p. 1872
1898

J.P. Richter, Lectures on the National Gallery, London 1898
1908

H. Horne, Allessandro Filipepi, Commonly Called Sandro Botticelli, Painter of Florence, London 1908
1910

J.P. Richter, The Mond Collection: An Appreciation, London 1910
1938

J. Mesnil, Botticelli, Paris 1938
1947

J. Pope-Hennessy, Gallery Books Number 15. Botticelli: The Nativity in the National Gallery, London 1947
1951

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
1958

R. Salvini, Tutta la pittura del Botticelli, Milan 1958
1959

P. Della Pergola, 'L'inventario del 1592 di Lucrezia d'Este', Arte antica e moderna, VII/2, 1959, pp. 342-51
1960

M. Levey, 'Botticelli and Nineteenth Century England', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXIII/3-4, 1960, pp. 291-306
1961

M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
1970

D. Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence: Prophecy and Patriotism in the Renaissance, Princeton 1970
1977

R.M. Steinberg, Fra Girolamo Savonarola, Florentine Art and Renaissance Historiography, Athens, Ohio 1977
1977

M.C. Stella, Le adorazioni dei magi e la natività mistica di Botticelli, Lanciano 1977
1978

R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli, London 1978
1979

J.A. Dobrick, 'Botticelli's Sources: A Florentine Quattrocento Tradition and Ancient Sculpture', Apollo, CX/220, 1979, pp. 114-27
1981

R.J.M. Olson, 'Brunelleschi's Machines of Paradise and Botticelli's "Mystic Nativity"', Gazette des beaux-arts, XCVII, 1981, pp. 83-8
1983

R.J.M. Olson, Studies in the Later Work of Sandro Botticelli, Ann Arbor 1983
1986

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
1990

C. Caneva, Botticelli: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1990
1991

J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
1992

N.G. Wilson, 'Greek Inscriptions on Renaissance Paintings', Italia medioevale e umanistica, XXXV, 1992, pp. 232-41
1993

W. Beckett, 'Master Class with Sister Wendy Beckett', Art Review, 1993, pp. 24-5
1995

D. Lee, William Fuller Maitland 1813-1876, n.p. 1995?
1995

R. Hatfield, 'Botticelli's Mystic Nativity, Savonarola and the Millennium', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, LVIII, 1995, pp. 89-114
1995

P. Joannides, 'Late Botticelli: Archaism and Ideology', Arte Cristiana, LXXXIII/768, 1995, pp. 163-78
1996

A.C. Blume, Studies in the Religious Paintings of Sandro Botticelli, Ann Arbor 1996
1997

P. Reuterswärd, 'Tysta bilder och ljudande', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, LXVI/4, 1997, pp. 183-95
1998

D. Ekserdjian, 'A Print Source for Botticelli: A Devil by the Master e.S', Apollo, CXLVIII/441, 1998, pp. 15-6
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2003

A. Chioetto and D. Comerlati (eds), Botticelli: From Lorenzo the Magnificent to Savonarola, Milan 2003
2004

G.S. Weinberg, 'D.G. Rossetti's Ownership of Botticelli's "Smeralda Brandini"', The Burlington Magazine, CXLVI/1210, 2004, pp. 20-6
2004

D. Arasse et al., Botticelli and Filippino: Passion and Grace in Fifteenth-Century Florentine Painting (exh. cat. Musée du Luxembourg, 1 October 2003 - 22 February 2004; Palazzo Strozzi, 10 March - 11 July 2004), Milan 2004
2006

H. Körner, Botticelli, Cologne 2006
2006

M. Deurbergue, 'Poésie, prophétie, peinture: La Nativité mystique de Sandro Botticelli et son interprétation selon le sens spirituel de l'exégèse', Studiolo, 4, 2006, pp. 111-28
2008

U. Rehm, 'Visionär in den "Wirren Italiens": Die Londoner "Anbetung des Kindes" von Sandro Botticelli und seine späten Jahre', Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, LII/1, 2008, pp. 25-52
2009

C. Hodkinson, A Question of Attribution: The Evolution of Connoisseurship During the 19th Century, Phd Thesis, Lancaster University 2009

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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