The 15 artworks that define Christmas – in pictures
Peasants trudging through snow, ice-skaters in the street and the baby Jesus glowing and golden in the manger … how the greatest painters have captured the majesty of the season
Wed 24 Dec 2014 02.00 EST Last modified on Wed 19 Oct 2022 10.30 EDT
Adoration of the Magi by Albrecht Dürer (1504)
Photograph: Summerfield Press/Corbis
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterWinter Landscape by Caspar David Friedrich (1811)
Photograph: Corbis
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterNativity by Giotto (1303-05)
Detail from the cycle of frescoes Life and Passion of ChristPhotograph: De Agostini/Getty Images
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterNativity at Night by Geertgen tot Sint Jans (c 1490)
Photograph: The Art Archive
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterA Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle by Hendrick Avercamp (1608-9)
Photograph: Corbis
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterThe Census at Bethlehem by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1566)
Photograph: Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lille
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterThe Annunciation by Fra Angelico (1438-45)
Photograph: The Art Archive/Corbis
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterMystic Nativity by Sandro Botticelli (1500)
Photograph: The Art Archive
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterThe Adoration of the Shepherds by Guido Reni (c 1640)
Photograph: The Gallery Collection/Corbis
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterSnow Scene at Argenteuil by Claude Monet (1875)
Photograph: The National Gallery, London
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterAdoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci (1481)
Photograph: ABC gallery
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterThe Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1565)
Photograph: De Agostini/Getty Images
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterThe Sistine Madonna by Raphael (
1512-13)Photograph: Corbis
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterAdoration of the Shepherds by Caravaggio (1609)
Photograph: Archivo Iconografico SA/Corbis
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterThe Wilton Diptych, unknown artist (c 1395-99)
Photograph: The Gallery Collection/Corbis
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