George Baxter
British (1804 - 1867) Primary

The Birth of the Savior

Early - mid-19th century

Sheet
10 in. x 7 1/4 in. (25.4 cm x 18.42 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Christmas - Refers to the Christian feast and festival observed on December 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Its observance is first documented in Rome in 336. The practice of celebrating on December 25 began in the 4th century in the Western church as a Christian replacement for the pagan festival held on the winter solstice to celebrate the birth of the unconquered sun. The East originally gave the date of January 6 for the nativity but the date of December 25 was generally accepted by the 5th century; the Armenian Church, however, still celebrates on January 6. Christmas took on the festivity (i.e. decorations and gift-giving) of the Roman Saturnalia and other pagan festivals of that time of year. Christmas has continued to accumulate traditions over the centuries; many of the customs associated with the holiday are of non-Christian origin. Evergreens, for example, are symbols of survival and have been associated with Christmas ever since the European Middle Ages. Christmas is traditionally regarded as a festival of the family and of children. In many countries presents are exchanged in the name of or in the spirit of the holiday's patron, Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus.
• illustrations - Pictures or diagrams that clarify or provide an example or visualization. They usually accompany a text; the term is most often used to refer to pictures in books or published journal. For works that explore a subject or are preliminary to a separate, more finalized work, use "studies (visual works)." For paintings in manuscripts, use "illuminations" or "miniatures (paintings)."
• oil paint - A paint made by grinding pigments with a drying oil such as linseed oil. After 1940 alkyd binders were often added to oil paint to provide faster drying times.
• printing - Various means of reproducing identical copies of graphic matter in a fixed form. Processes by which an image, pictorial or textual, is transferred, usually to paper or cloth, most often by means of a plate, block, stone, or screen. Use also for the making of photographic prints and, with computers, for the production of a paper copy of stored data. For the production of prints in a fine arts context, prefer "printmaking."
• putti - Motifs representing chubby, sometimes winged and naked figures of little boys, derived from Greco-Roman depictions of Eros. Common in art from Renaissance through the 18th century.
• religious art - Use broadly for art depicting religious subjects or for art used in worship.
• shepherds - Persons who guard, tend and herd flocks of sheep grazing at large.

• Sheet Dimensions: 10 x 7 1/4 in. (25.4 x 18.415 cm)