Jesus Is the Reason, Christian Wall Art

What is painted

The view is close and low, almost at the height of the manger. The Christ Child lies asleep in a rough wooden trough heaped with straw, wrapped in a cream blanket. There is no candle and no star overhead: the glow comes from the child himself, a warm gold that spills upward onto the two faces leaning over him.

Mary, in a pale veil over a blue-gray robe, rests both hands on the blanket and smiles with her eyes lowered. Joseph, bearded and curly-haired, bends in from the right with one hand on the edge of the manger. Behind them the beams and posts of the barn fade into brown shadow, so the eye always returns to the center.

The brushwork is thick and textured, in the manner of an impressionist oil painting, and the scene fills the whole sheet right to its outer edges. No words appear anywhere on the print.

The light that came into the world

Luke tells the birth in a single plain sentence: “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). The Son of God arrives without ceremony, in a place meant for animals.

John describes the same event from another angle. He calls the Word “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). The painting joins the two Gospels: Luke's humble manger, and John's light shining from inside it. That is the whole sense of the familiar saying that Jesus is the reason for the season. Beneath the gifts and the decorations, Christmas begins with a child who is himself the light.

A nativity to hang for Advent and Christmas

Put it up on the first Sunday of Advent above a mantel, a piano or a console in the entry, and it becomes the quiet center of the room through the whole season. The deep browns and golds sit well beside greenery, candles and a lit tree. It also makes a thoughtful present for parents expecting a baby, grandparents, a godchild, or a pastor's family.

Each print is a giclée on heavyweight archival matte paper, printed on demand in the US and shipped free within the United States. It is sold unframed, in sizes from 5x7 to 24x36 inches, plus metric and A sizes, and a digital file is also available if you prefer to print it yourself.