Christmas and Epiphany in the Visual Arts
In this large format book Jos Philippen (deceased in 1990) offers a very enriching overview of how the biblical stories of the birth of Jesus (Luke 2) and of the worship of the sages (Matthew 2) are depicted in the visual arts. The book can be divided into three main parts. Philippen first deals with the iconographic development of the various elements (eg Jesus, Mary and Joseph, angels, star, ox and donkey, three kings) and indicates which Biblical, apocryphal and medieval writings come from them. In the middle section, the author presents thirty-seven black-and-white images of paintings. These come from the third to the twentieth century and appear in chronological order. In the latter part Philippen offers the most important source texts in a Dutch translation.
The book is very useful for religious teachers or KSO teachers who want to discuss artworks about Christmas and Epiphany with their pupils before or after the Christmas holidays. Especially the source texts are very enriching because otherwise only a few in a very difficult Dutch text edition are available. The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine (1228-1298) has recently appeared in Peter Naghels Middle Dutch translation at Brepols in Turnhout (2017), but the translation to be found at Philippen (pp. 127-131) is certainly more accessible to pupils. Of the visions of Birgitta of Sweden (1303-1373), there is as yet no full translation available in Dutch. Philippen offers one of Birgitta's vision of the birth of Jesus (pages 147-148).
Jos Philippen, Christmas and Epiphany in the Visual Arts : With 37 illustrations. Diest: Publisher "Pro Arte" [1949].
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