Exhibition · Now on view
15 November — 6 January
Ἡ Γέννησις τοῦ Χριστοῦ
The Nativity of Christ
A single ray falls from heaven into a dark cave. Walk through four rooms of icons from our Thessaloniki studio and follow where it leads.
Enter the exhibitionRoom I · Prologue
Nine months
before the cave
Every Nativity begins with a greeting. On 25 March the Church keeps the Annunciation; nine months later, on 25 December, the same Child is born. We open the exhibition here, with the angel’s word and the Virgin’s answer.
This is the hand-painted original in the show: egg tempera and 24k gold leaf, laid by hand on a solid-wood panel.
20 × 26 cm – 40 × 60 cm from $610.00 View the work →
Room II · The Cave
Read the icon in eight stops
An icon of the Nativity holds the whole story at once. Tap a number on the panel, as you would with a gallery audio guide.
Stop 1 / 8
The star and the ray
From a sliver of heaven at the top edge, one ray falls straight into the cave. It is how the icon tells you where to look: heaven comes down, and the light points to the Child.
Stop 2 / 8
The angels
On one side the angels glorify; on the other they bend toward the earth to carry the news. Their hymn runs along the arc of heaven: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.”
Stop 3 / 8
The Magi
The wise men ride in from the hills, following the star. Tradition paints them young, middle-aged and old: every age of life comes to worship, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Stop 4 / 8
The Child in the manger
Christ lies in the darkest place of the whole composition, wrapped in bands, in a manger shaped like a tomb. Birth and burial are painted together. The ox and the donkey recall Isaiah: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib.”
Stop 5 / 8
The Theotokos
The largest figure rests on a red mantle at the heart of the icon. She has given birth and now keeps silence, holding “all these things in her heart.”
Stop 6 / 8
The shepherds
An angel brings the news to the shepherds; one of them plays a pipe. The poor and the watchful are the first to hear.
Stop 7 / 8
Joseph and the old man
Joseph sits apart, head bowed, troubled by doubt. Before him stands an old man in skins, in tradition the tempter whispering that such a birth cannot be. The icon leaves his struggle in plain view.
Stop 8 / 8
The bathing of the Child
Two women wash the newborn, a homely detail that insists the Child is truly human, born and bathed like any other. The basin also points ahead, to his Baptism in the Jordan.
15 × 20 cm – 30 × 40 cm from $140.00 View the work →
Room III · The White Gallery
Four editions, one light
You step out of the dark into daylight. The same feast, hung four ways: gold on a flat panel, gold in a frame, matte gold on a raised panel, and silver relief touched with gold.
15 × 20 cm – 30 × 40 cm from $140.00 View the work →
15 × 20 cm – 30 × 40 cm from $145.00 View the work →
15 × 19 cm – 40 × 60 cm from $111.00 View the work →
17 × 23 cm $182.00 View the work →
6 × 11 cm $413.00 View the work →
Room IV · Towards Theophany
Twelve days
to the Jordan
Remember the basin where the midwives bathe the Child? It points ahead. The feast does not end on 25 December: twelve days later, on 6 January, the Church keeps the Theophany, the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan.
The last room holds a single object, two-sided like the season itself. On one face, the Nativity. Turn it, and you find the Baptism.
The Studio · Commissions
A Nativity painted for you
Any feast in the exhibition can also be painted by hand in our Thessaloniki studio, in egg tempera and gold leaf on solid wood.
- Choose size and gildingPick the composition, size and gilding. You pay in full at checkout; nothing else is due later.
- Painted by handOur iconographers gild the panel and paint the feast layer by layer.
- Delivered to your doorShipped insured and tracked, with its certificate. To the USA and the UK, import duties and taxes are paid at checkout.
Before you leave
In your home by Christmas
USA and UK: duties and taxes are paid at checkout, so there is nothing to pay at the door. Add a gift bag or a written dedication on any icon page.
The season in the Church calendar
- 15 NovThe Nativity Fast begins
- 25 DecThe Nativity of Christ
- 26 DecSynaxis of the Theotokos
- 6 JanTheophany, the Baptism of Christ · exhibition closes
