The Adoration of the Christ Child

In the foreground of this nativity, the painting’s donor kneels before the newborn Christ accompanied by his family and their patron saints. A multitude of angels celebrate Jesus’s birth, which has not taken place in a humble manger but rather a classical architectural setting overlooking a harbor. The figures recall earlier, Gothic artworks because the artist was a designer of woodcuts and inexperienced in painting.

This painting was commissioned for the lost church of St. Andrew’s Harbor of Salvation, near Amsterdam. Its patron was the long-serving mayor of the Netherlands’ capital, Andries Boelens. He is pictured kneeling in the left foreground while wearing a red purse and accompanied by his namesake, St. Andrew. The painting is a testament to the religious piety of Amsterdam, the coat of arms of which is three X-shaped St. Andrew’s crosses.