Away in a Manger, Christian Wall Art

What is painted

The view is close and low, as if you were kneeling beside the manger. A small wooden trough, overflowing with straw, holds the Child, who sleeps with rosy cheeks and a tiny hand tucked under his chin. He is wrapped snugly in thick ivory cloth. From the right, a hand with a white sleeve and a blue mantle reaches in and rests lightly on his chest. We never see Mary's face, only that gesture.

Behind, the beams and boards of a stable fade into shadow, and warm light slants in from the upper left, setting every strand of straw aglow. The style is an impressionist oil with rich, raised strokes, printed full bleed so the picture fills the sheet. No text has been added.

Wrapped and laid in a manger

Luke 2:7 records that Mary wrapped her firstborn son in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Swaddling meant binding a newborn snugly in strips of cloth, a common practice that kept a baby warm and still.

When the shepherds came, they found the baby lying in a manger, just as the angel had said. Luke adds that while everyone wondered at what the shepherds told, “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). The hand in this painting carries that same quiet watchfulness.

The title recalls Away in a Manger, the carol many children learn first, which pictures the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

For a nursery, a mother, a first Christmas

This is a tender choice for a nursery or a child's bedroom, since it shows a sleeping baby and nothing frightening. It also fits a kitchen nook, a guest room or a bedside wall during December.

It makes a meaningful gift for a new mother, for parents celebrating a baby's first Christmas, for a midwife or a labor and delivery nurse, or for a grandmother who has rocked many little ones to sleep.

It is printed as a giclée on archival matte paper of heavy weight, made to order in the United States, with shipping free to US addresses. Frames are not included. Available from 5x7 to 24x36 inches, plus metric and A sizes, or as a digital file.