Scripture · Luke 1:26-38
Luke 2:34-35
The Nativity
Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your soul as well.”
There is already a crucifix in this Nativity. It hangs in the shadow above Joseph while the living baby kicks on the cloth below.
About the artwork
Lotto sets the family outside a rough thatched building, with a bright strip of landscape behind them. Mary and Joseph kneel with the close attention of new parents. The baby’s lifted arms and legs give the foreground a lively physical presence; above Joseph, the small, stretched body on the cross answers it with a very different stillness. The cross brings the viewer’s knowledge of the ending into the beginning. It changes how the parents’ tenderness reads without requiring them to turn away from the child. The picture holds delight and foreknowledge in the same small space.
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What does Luke 2:34-35 mean?
The paired verses, Luke 2:34–35, occur later, when Simeon meets the family in the Temple. He blesses them but warns Mary of opposition to her son and of sorrow that will pierce her own soul. Lotto’s crucifix serves a comparable purpose within the birth scene: it makes the blessing inseparable from what lies ahead. Mary can still look tenderly at her baby; the viewer has been given another body to remember.
Sources
National Gallery of Art collection record. National Gallery of Art collection record for the 1523 Nativity.
Luke 2 — Berean Standard Bible. The paired text read in its surrounding chapter.
National Gallery of Art — Lorenzo Lotto exhibition catalogue. The prominent crucifix is discussed on printed p. 49 and in catalogue entry 20.
Also from Luke:A ForerunnerRaising of Jairus’ Daughter