An Illustrious Story

The J. Paul Getty Museum is celebrating the holidays with “The Christmas Story in Renaissance Art,” an exhibition combining some of the museum’s old favorites with relatively little-known pieces and spectacular new acquisitions. The show, which opened this week in the museum’s Renaissance gallery, was organized by curator David Jaffe to display artworks that illustrate the biblical narrative of the birth of Christ.

In terms of materials, measurements and styles, it’s a rather eclectic assembly consisting of one illuminated manuscript, one drawing and seven paintings--large and small, in oil, distemper and gold leaf on linen or wood panel. Working from the 14th through the early 17th centuries, the artists were Italian, French and Flemish.

The inevitable star of the show will be Fra Bartolommeo’s luminous painting “The Rest on the Flight Into Egypt With Saint John the Baptist.” A new acquisition--purchased last May for $22.5 million but installed at the museum only two weeks ago--the painting has the place of honor, in the center of the wall at the end of the long gallery. Indeed, the exhibition was inspired by the Fra Bartolommeo--or “the Fra Bart,” as Jaffe fondly calls it. But even that icon of Renaissance art plays a role, as the culmination of the Getty’s illustration of the Christmas story.

The pictorial tale, as told here, begins with “The Annunciation” by Flemish master Dieric Bouts, portraying the scene when the angel Gabriel visits Mary in Nazareth and tells her she has been chosen to give birth to Jesus. In a recently restored triptych by Bernardo Daddi, the Madonna shares news of her pregnancy.

An anonymous French artist, known as the Spitz Master, picks up the story after the birth of the child, when his parents were journeying to Bethlehem to pay taxes. In the nativity scene, painted for a Book of Hours, Joseph and Mary have put their new baby in a manger because no lodgings were available at the inn.

As the familiar narrative continues, a bright light appears in the sky above the site of the birth, attracting observers and worshipers. In “Adoration of the Shepherds,” a highly detailed drawing in black chalk and red wash by Francesco Vanni, the shepherds have arrived at the scene of the birth after being notified by an angel.

Two paintings portray wise men who came from the east to Jerusalem, following a star they believed would lead them to the newborn King of the Jews. “The Meeting of the Three Kings, With David and Isaiah,” a new acquisition by an anonymous artist known as the Master of Saint Bartholomew, portrays the journey of the Magi as an animated parade in a magical landscape.

Andrea Mantegna’s painting “The Adoration of the Magi,” a prized possession that joined the Getty’s collection in 1985, is a close-up of the wise men presenting the child with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The story ends with the Fra Bartolommeo and another High Renaissance painting, Guilio Romano’s “The Holy Family.” Both artists portray the family fleeing to Egypt, after God warned Joseph that King Herod would try to find Jesus and kill him.

* J. Paul Getty Museum, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. Tuesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Parking reservations required: (310) 458-2003. Through Dec. 30.