Artists of Christmas & Winter
There is a wide variety of art depicting scenes of Christmas, and Winter that it would take up volumes to share.
Beginning with the Annunciation of Mary by Fra Angelico painted on an altarpiece for the monastery of Santo Domenico in Fiesole, near Florence. The central panel shows the Archangel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary under a portico. The painting was done in 1439. Fra Angelico was an Italian painter and Friar of the Early Renaissance. He earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence.
Claude Monet, is considered the father of the Impressionist movement, which took place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Many of Monet’s works focus on landscapes. One famous work of his completed around 1875 is of his hometown titled Snow at Argenteuil, featuring a heavy snow falling over the community.
Impressionist artists also include Renoir, Manet, Degas, Cezanne, and Matisse. Impressionism is a 19th century style characterized by small brush strokes using light to depict images, offering an “impression” or artist interpretation of images.
Sharply contrasting over to El Greco’s Adoration of the Shepherds (featured). Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos known as El Greco is considered one of the most prolific artists from the 17th century in Spain. A Baroque artist, El Greco often portrayed religious scenes with a high contrast between light and darkness to signify good and evil. One of his most celebrated works is The Adoration of the Shepherds completed about 1614.
Baroque art derived from the Portuguese 'barocco' means 'irregular pearl or stone', refers to a cultural and art movement that characterized Europe from the early seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century beginning in Spain and spreading across Europe. Baroque emphasizes dramatic, exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted, detail. Other Baroque artists were Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Rubens, among a few.
The many styles and art of Christmas and Winter from Monet to Greco are continued to be enjoyed through the centuries.