The Adoration of the Christ Child

c. 1515

Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen (Netherlandish, c. 1470/75–by 1533)
Workshop of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen (Netherlandish, c. 1470/75–by 1533)

In this joyous imagining of Jesus’s birth, choirs of angels—each with a different musical attribute—fill the stable with celebratory music. The artist elaborated the setting with luxurious red porphyry and green marble architectural features adorned with floral designs called grotteschi. These organic yet fantastical decorative motifs were inspired by the recent excavation of the Domus Aureus, Emperor Nero’s grand, first-century palace in Rome. Here, these details are likely meant to evoke the tradition that Christ’s birth took place in a stable constructed in the ruins of the biblical king David’s palace.

Status: On View, Gallery 202
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen
Title: The Adoration of the Christ Child
Place: Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1510–1520
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: 98.5 × 76.3 cm (38 3/4 × 30 1/16 in.); Framed: 108 × 86.4 × 9.6 cm (42 1/2 × 34 × 3 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: George F. Harding Collection
Reference Number: 1983.375
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/100345/manifest.json

Martin Conway, The Van Eycks and Their Followers, London, 1921, p. 458.
Kurt Steinbart, Die Tafelgemälde des Jakob Cornelisz von Amsterdam, Strasbourg, 1922, pp. 72–77, 157, pl. 6, fig. 1.
G.F.M., “New York Has Its Hidden Collections,” Art News 21, 21 (1923), p. 7.
J. Six, “Jan van Hout, Cornelis Buys en Jacob Cornelisz.,” Oud Holland 42 (1925), p. 26.
“Pictures Bring Best Prices in Stillwell Sale,” Art News 26, 10 (1927), pp. 1, 12.
Max J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, vol. 12, Leiden, 1935, p. 195, no. 254, pl. 51; rev. English ed., Early Netherlandish Painting, Brussels and Leiden, 1975, pp. 116, 144 n. 92, no. 254, pl. 142.
Max J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, vol. 14, Leiden, 1937, p. 124; rev. English ed., Early Netherlandish Painting, Brussels and Leiden, vol. 11, 1974, p. 102.
G. J. Hoogewerff, De Noord-nederlandsche schilderkunst, vol. 3, The Hague,1939, p. 111.
Jaap Leeuwenberg, “Twee teruggevonden werken van Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen,” Maandblad voor beeldende kunsten 20 (1943), p. 161.
Denise Fallon, “Une Intervention d’Adriaen Ysenbrant ou de son atelier dans un triptyque maniériste de 1520, conservé à Bruges,” Bulletin: Institut royal du patrimoine artistique 19 (1982–83), p. 134.
Jane L. Carroll, “The Paintings of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen (1472–1533),” Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1987 (Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms, 1988), pp. 204–05, under cat. 4.
Art Institute of Chicago, Glad Tidings of Great Joy, Chicago, 1993, pp. 22–23, 25 (ill.), 39.
Daantje Meuwissen, “A ‘Painter in Black and White’: The Symbiotic Relationship between the Paintings and Woodcuts of Jacob Cornelisz. Van Oostsanen,” in Making and Marketing: Studies of the Painting Process in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Netherlandish Workshops, ed. Molly Faries, Turnhout, 2006, pp. 67, 79.
Martha Wolff in Martha Wolff et al., Northern European and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2008, pp. 174-79, ill.

Saint Paul (Minn.) Art Center, The Age of Belief, 1966–67, no. 3.
Alkmaar, Netherlands, Alkmaar City Museum, Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen: The Master and His Oeuvre, March 1–June 2, 2013.

Spanish Art Gallery, London, by 1914 to at least 1916 [Steinbart 1922, p. 72; and Conway 1921]. Dr. John E. Stillwell, New York, by 1922[Steinbart 1922, p. 72]; sold, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, Dec. 1–3, 1927, no. 217, to Clapp and Graham as agent for Harding, for $10,250 [Art News 1927, p. 12]; George F. Harding, Jr. (d. 1939), Chicago; bequeathed to the George F. Harding Museum, Chicago; offered for sale, Sotheby’s, New York, Dec. 2, 1976, no. 210, withdrawn; ownership transferred to the Art Institute, 1982; accessioned, 1983.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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