Nothing could be a more natural subject during the Renaissance than the Nativity. Western man himself was then being reborn into a world where he occupied the center of his own attention; artists could not avoid depicting the compelling paradox of Christ as a combination of both God and fleshly man. And yet, the discovery of Christ's humanity, far from diminishing the mystery, only added to the glory of the Christmas story.
The wholly new dimension that this humanistic revelation gave religious art can be seen superbly in the treasures of Munich's Alte...
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