Catholic Christmas Gifts
The Nativity is the subject the great painters returned to more than any other, and each found a different way to show a night lit by a child. These are the finest of them — candlelit stables, dancing angels, kings from the East — for a Christmas present that is actually about Christmas.
Prints are made to order: for delivery before Christmas, order by the first week of December, and earlier is safer while the carriers are busy.
The Holy Night
Antonio da Correggio
Correggio’s “Holy Night”: a Nativity lit entirely by the newborn Christ, so bright that a shepherd girl shields her eyes.
From $32.98
The Mystic Nativity
Sandro Botticelli
Angels dancing in a ring above the stable and embracing the shepherds below — the only painting Botticelli ever signed and dated.
From $44.13
Nativity at Night
Geertgen tot Sint Jans
A small Netherlandish panel in which the only light in the dark stable comes from the Child himself.
From $31.52
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Georges de La Tour
Shepherds gathered round the swaddled Child by the light of a single candle, shaded by Joseph’s hand.
From $31.52
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Murillo’s shepherds, with a lamb and an ox, crowding round a Child who lights their faces.
From $31.52
Angels Announcing the Birth of Christ to the Shepherds
Govert Flinck
The night sky breaking open over the shepherds’ field: the moment the angels announce the birth.
From $31.52
Adoration of the Shepherds
Gerrit van Honthorst
By the painter the Italians called “Gherardo of the Night”, for scenes exactly like this one.
From $31.52
The Nativity
Federico Barocci
Barocci’s Nativity, soft and luminous, with Mary kneeling in wonder over the manger.
From $31.52
The Adoration of the Magi
Peter Paul Rubens
Kings, camels and retinue pouring toward the Child — Rubens painted it in a fortnight for an abbey in Antwerp.
From $32.98
Adoration of the Magi
Albrecht Dürer
Dürer’s three kings among Gothic ruins, one of them said to wear the painter’s own face.
From $96.36
Saint Nicholas
Benvenuto di Giovanni
The real Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra, whose secret gifts on his feast, 6 December, grew into Santa Claus.
From $44.13
A Christmas present about Christmas
Most Christmas presents have nothing to do with the feast. A Nativity is the exception: it is the thing itself, and a good one goes up every Advent for the rest of the recipient’s life. Many families bring theirs out with the crib and put it away at Candlemas; others leave it up all year.
Painters from Botticelli to Rembrandt’s pupils treated the Nativity as a problem of light — how to show a night in which the brightest thing is a newborn child. That is why so many of the pictures here are dark, candlelit and intimate, and why they look better in a room than almost any other religious subject.
Questions
What is a good Catholic Christmas gift?
Something that keeps the feast in view: a Nativity scene, an Advent wreath, a devotional book — or a painting of the Nativity, which goes up every Christmas for years.
When should I order to receive it before Christmas?
By the first week of December. Each print is made to order (three to five business days) and then shipped (five to ten), and carriers slow down in the last weeks before Christmas.
Why is Saint Nicholas connected with Christmas presents?
Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop of Myra, was known for giving in secret — most famously dowries for three poor girls. Gifts on his feast, 6 December, grew over the centuries into the figure of Santa Claus.
Can I send a print as a gift directly?
Yes — enter the recipient’s address at checkout. Prints ship in plain packaging from the printer.