The Census at Bethlehem - Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525/1530 - 1569)

“Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each other.” (CCC 1160)

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The Census at Bethlehem - Pieter Bruegel the Elder  (1566)

Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicts in this oil painting the Gospel scene from Luke 2: 1-4 as a Flemish village in the winter.  In the detail below, Mary and Joseph make their way to the building to be counted in the census.  

Detail The Census at Bethlehem

Mary and Joseph register for the census before Governor Quirinius - Byzantine Mosaic  (c. 1315)

Luke 2: 1-4 

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled.  This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.   And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 

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Picture Source - Public Domain

The Role of Religious Art in Faith Formation - Month of December 2019 Index

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