Road to Bethlehem, Christian Wall Art

What is painted

Mary rides a gray donkey, seen from behind, wrapped in a cream veil and a blue shawl, with bundles and a striped saddle blanket tied on either side. Joseph walks at her side in a brown cloak and sandals, a bag over his shoulder, holding the donkey's lead rope.

They follow a rough, stony path between boulders and dry grass, with an olive tree leaning over the left side. The road winds down and across the valley to a walled town on the right, its gate and windows already lit. The sun sits low over the hills, and the sky is full of orange and violet clouds.

The scene is rendered in an impressionist oil manner, with broad textured strokes, and it runs right out to all four edges of the print. No text is written on it.

Up from Nazareth

Luke 2:1-5 explains why the couple made this trip. Caesar Augustus ordered a census of the whole Roman world, and everyone went to be registered in his own town. Joseph was of the house and lineage of David, so he went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, the city of David, with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

The journey covered roughly ninety miles. The Gospel never mentions a donkey; that detail comes from long Christian tradition and later writings, and almost every painting of the journey includes one. Once they arrived, Luke says, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

A picture for the waiting season

Since it shows the journey before the birth, this print is especially suited to Advent, the weeks of waiting and preparation. Hang it in an entryway, a mudroom or a family room where people come and go. Some families put it up on the first Sunday of Advent and move it beside the crèche on Christmas Eve.

It speaks to expectant parents, couples about to move, adoptive families waiting for a child, and anyone who is between one place and the next.

The giclée print is made on demand in the United States on heavyweight matte archival paper and ships free to US addresses. It is unframed. Sizes range from 5x7 to 24x36 inches, along with metric and A sizes, and a digital file can be ordered too.