THERE'S a painting in the Uffizi T Gallery in Florence, Italy, known as the Portinari Triptych. It's a Nativity scene, commissioned from a Flemish artist called Hugo van der Goes in 1475. It was made for Tommaso Portinari, a Florentine who worked for the Medici bank in Bruges.
A triptych comes in three parts and the two outer sections can be folded over to protect the central part. When the Portinari side panels are closed, their backs display scenes that come together as the Annunciation. These are painted en grisaille to represent sculptures-carved stone and wood were more commonly employed at that time for devotional work than paintings. On the right-hand panel, the Archangel Gabriel salutes and blesses Mary; she receives the Holy Spirit, here represented by a dove, in the lefthand panel. The Annunciation is the precursor of the Incarnation, when the panels may be opened out to reveal the Birth of Christ.
The central panel of the triptych shows the new-born Jesus, long and skinny like a real baby, and not in a manger, but lying on the floor and radiating heavenly light. Angels, shepherds and Wise Men crowd around Him in stylised attitudes of devotion. There's a fiercely horned cow, too, and a donkey eating the hay in the manger. It is not a straightforward representation of the Nativity so much as an Adoration by many onlookers-a composite rendering of all the Evangelists' stories of the Child Jesus's first days, brought together into one scene.
ãã®èšäºã¯ Country Life UK ã® December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã8,500 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã ?  ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
ãã®èšäºã¯ Country Life UK ã® December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã8,500 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã? ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
Don't rain on Venus's parade
TENNIS has never been sexierâat least, that is what multiple critics of the new film Challengers are saying.
A rural reason to cheer
THERE was something particularly special for country people when one of the prestigious Kingâs Awards for Voluntary Service was presented last week.
My heart is in the Highlands
A LISTAIR MOFFATâS many books on Scottish history are distinctive for the way he weaves poetry and literature, language and personal experience into broad-sweeping studies of particular regions or themes. In his latestâ and among his most ambitious in scopeâhe juxtaposes a passage from MacMhaighstir Alasdairâs great sea poem Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill with his own account of filming a replica birlinn (Hebridean galley) as it glides into the Sound of Mull, âlarch strakes swept up to a high prowâ, saffron sail billowing, water sparkling as its oars dip and splash. Familiar from medieval tomb carvings, the birlinn is a potent symbol of the power of the Lords of the Isles.
Put it in print
Three sales furnished with the ever-rarer paper catalogues featured intriguing lots, including a North Carolina map by John Ogilby and a wine glass gibbeting Admiral Byng, the unfortunate scapegoat for the British loss of Minorca
The rake's progress
Good looks, a flair for the theatrical and an excellent marriage made John Astleyâs fortune, but also swayed âle Titien Angloisâ away from painting into a dissolute life of wine and women, with some collecting on the side
Charter me this
Thereâs a whole world out there waiting to be explored and one of the most exciting ways to see it is from the water, says Emma Love, who rounds up the best boat charters
Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to sow we go
JUNE can be a tricky month for the gardener.
Floreat Etona
The link with the school and horticulture goes back to its royal founder, finds George Plumptre on a visit to the recently restored gardens
All in good time
Two decades in the planning, The Emory, designed by Sir Richard Rogers, is open. Think of it as a sieve that retains the best of contemporary hotel-keeping and lets the empty banality flow away
Come on down, the water's fine
Ratty might have preferred a picnic, but canalside fine dining is proving the key to success for new restaurant openings in east London today, finds Gilly Hopper