Nativity at night

DE BEER, Jan (c.1475–1528)

1520
Nativity at night (verso)

Oil on wood

137 X 137 cms

Barber Institute of Fine Art, Birmingham

The mannerist Jan de Beer from Antwerp was the son of the painter Claes de Beer and the father of the glasspainter Arnould de Beer. A student at the Antwerp Guild of St Luke, he became a master in 1504. In 1515 he became a dean of the Guild. He later took on apprentices, including his son, Aert de Beer. The artist is undocumented between 1519 and 1528, by which date he was dead. In 1567 Guicciardini included de Beer in his list of famous Netherlandish painters. This rare, double-sided panel featuring an image of Christ’s Nativity has recently arrived home in time for Christmas after undergoing major conservation. From around 1520, it depicts on one side the unusual Nativity at Night, and on the other the Apocryphal tale of Joseph and the Suitors (see below). Believed to be a section of a large, multi-part altarpiece, it was returned to its place on December 9, 2014 after extensive treatment by Stratford-upon-Avon conservator-restorer Stewart Meese.

The cleaning brought to greater prominence some small but significant details, including a letter ‘B’ on the thigh of one of the suitors – thought to be a signifier of the artist’s name. It also produced evidence supporting the suggestion that the landscape and secondary figures in the Nativity were executed by another hand – or hands – working with de Beer. Previously, the panel, which was possibly commissioned by a guild for their chapel in Antwerp Cathedral, was framed and hung at the Barber Institute as a traditional-style easel painting, with only one side visible at any one time.  It will return to the Green Gallery in a new, period-style frame and on a custom-made, free-standing plinth that will allow gallery visitors to view both sides of the panel and appreciate the paintings properly for the first time in decades.