Sepp Kals Nativity

“This Holy Family was carved by Sepp Kals, an academically trained sculptor from Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria. Kals also designed and carved sculptures for several church altars.

Joseph is shown holding an oil lamp. According to the well-known mystical vision of St. Bridget of Sweden (1303–73), when the Christ Child was born the cave where the birth took place was filled with an ineffable divine light—a light that completely outshone the earthly light of Joseph’s candle. Beginning in the 15th century, paintings sometimes show him holding a candle, but in later centuries artists replaced Joseph’s candle with a lamp or lantern.

These Nativity figures were given as Christmas presents from American physicist Arthur Holly Compton (1892-1962) and his wife, Betty, to each other. The son of a Presbyterian pastor, Arthur was a devout Christian. The base of the Joseph figure is inscribed, “to Arthur Compton from Betty, Xmas 1953,” and the base of Mary, “to Betty Compton from Arthur, Xmas 1953.” Arthur won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927 for his discovery of the “Compton effect.” On January 13, 1936 he was pictured on the cover of Time magazine, holding his cosmic-ray detector.” (Ed and Kirsten Gyllenhaal, label text, “World Nativities 2020”)