Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar

Glencairn Museum News | Number 10, 2021

Visit Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar on Glencairn Museum’s website, or follow the Museum’s social media to receive each day’s artwork in your newsfeed.

This year, in addition to our annual World Nativities exhibition, Glencairn Museum has produced a free online resource: Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar. The Glencairn collection contains many examples of depictions of the Nativity and infancy of Jesus Christ, including paintings, illuminated manuscripts, sculptures, and stained-glass windows. Collected by Raymond Pitcairn, some of these artworks date to the medieval period, while others are original works commissioned by Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn during the first half of the 20th century. This Advent calendar is available both on the Museum’s website and in the form of daily posts on our social media platforms.

Every day, from December 1 through December 25, a work of Nativity art from the Glencairn Museum collection will appear on the Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar page on the Museum’s website. You can click on the artwork that appears each day to learn about its history, imagery, and the artist who created it.

You can also follow the Museum’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter) to receive each day’s artwork in your newsfeed. In addition, our online web resource, Do You See What I See: Imagery in Nativity Scenes, offers a concise introduction to the history and iconography of the Nativity tradition. For a full list of all of the Museum’s 2021 Christmas offerings, click here.

Below is a sample of Nativity art in this year’s Advent calendar in three different mediums: stained glass, illuminated manuscript, and sculpture. All three artworks illustrate the same portion of the biblical account of the Christmas story: The Adoration of the Wise Men (Gospel of Matthew 2:9–12).

STAINED GLASS

Figure 1: Stained-glass panel with the Adoration of the Wise Men by Winfred S. Hyatt and Lawrence Saint, from the Christmas window in Glencairn’s Chapel. The window was made from 1928 to 1956. Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA.

This stained-glass panel, made in the Bryn Athyn glassworks, depicts the visit of the Wise Men (sometimes called Magi) to the infant Jesus, with the Star of Bethlehem shining above. According to the Gospel of Matthew, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (2:9–12). This scene is in the Christmas window on the south wall of Glencairn’s Chapel.

The meaning of the term Magi (in Greek magoi) in the context of Matthew’s narrative has been a topic of discussion since the early days of the Christian Church. They have been variously described as “sages,” “diviners,” “astrologers,” or “priests.” As early as the third century, however, some interpreters of the Bible began to identify the Wise Men as kings, in connection with a prophesy found in the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible: “May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!” (Psalm 72:10). By the time of the Middle Ages, the “three kings” were being depicted in art with crowns and elaborate garments.

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT

Figure 2: Page with a miniature painting of the Adoration of the Wise Men from a 15th-century Book of Hours, likely made in Northeast France. Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA, 07.MS.639.

This scene of the Wise Men presenting their gifts to the Christ Child is from a page in a 15th-century Flemish medieval prayer book. Known as a Book of Hours, these personal prayer books contained devotions appropriate for the eight canonical hours of the day, as well as other prayers and texts. 

Here the gifts of the Wise Men take the form of three golden chalices. Both the Christ Child, who sits on Mary’s lap, and Mary herself, have haloes, but the infant Christ’s halo is cruciform. The clothing of the Wise Men suggests that they have come from a variety of countries, and their hair and beards suggest three ages: youth, adult, and old age. In the left-hand border of the page, two hounds are depicted chasing a white rabbit. Below the main scene is a peacock.

SCULPTURE

Figure 3: Limestone relief of the Adoration of the Wise Men, 13th-century France. Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA, 09.SP.119.

This limestone relief with the Adoration of the Wise Men was made in 13th-century France. It illustrates the biblical narrative describing these travelers, who came “from the East,” saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Gospel of Matthew 2:1–2). 

During the construction of Glencairn, Raymond Pitcairn set this relief into the north wall of the inglenook in the Great Hall, where it remains today. All three of the Wise Men are represented as kings wearing crowns, in keeping with medieval tradition. The foremost king, whose arm is broken off, is shown kneeling in order to present a gift—either gold, frankincense, or myrrh (Matthew 2:11). 

Follow Glencairn Museum’s social media to receive a work of Nativity art each day, or visit our webpage: Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar.

(CEG)

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