KAGE’S CRÈCHES by Joan K. Yanni

KAGE’S CRÈCHES

by Joan K. Yanni

Crèches from the collection of Earl Kage, long-time friend of the Gallery, are exhibited annually as part of the MAG holiday celebration.  To appreciate these manger scenes, called crèches in French, presepio in Italian, German Krippe, Spanish belèn, or Southwest American nacimiento—docents must know the story of the nativity.

The familiar story is taken from the New Testament gospels.  The Roman emperor Caesar Augustus decreed that each man must go to his own town to register for a census.  Joseph, with his pregnant wife Mary, traveled to Bethlehem to comply with the law.  Soon after they arrived, the time came for her delivery; and because of the crowds in the town, they could not find room at an inn.  A kind innkeeper led them to a stable, where the baby was born and laid in a manger—a trough from which animals eat.  Shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks that night, and angels appeared to them and announced the birth.  "Do not fear.  We bring you tidings of great joy."

The Magi were kings, or astronomers, or wise men who came from the East.  They are often seen with camels, following a star which led them to Bethlehem.  Caspar, the oldest, kneels before Mary and the Child with his gift of gold, symbol of Christ's kingship.  Behind him stands Balthazar, an African, and Melchior, the youngest, with gifts of frankincense, homage to Christ's divinity; and myrrh, an aromatic perfume used in embalming, foreshadowing His death.  The coming of the Magi represents the coming of Christ to the Gentiles.  In the late middle ages the kings symbolized the known world:  Europe, Asia and Africa.

Earl Kage's crèches, collected over a period of almost 50 years, were made by artists from around the world; and though the scene is the same, the figures have been set in their own time and culture.

Earl tells us that the depiction of the birth goes back to scenes found on sarcophagi of the 4th century.  By the 12th century figures of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were seen in Roman churches.  St. Francis was said to have created a live tableau around 1229 in a forest near Assisi.  Originally the scene had only three human figures, and the replica of the Baby Jesus was inserted into the scene on Christmas Eve.  Later the three kings were added, and still later angels, shepherds and animals.  The three kings are not set out until the Feast of the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, on January 6.

The Nativity

Adoration of the Magi

In the Gallery's collection are two paintings of the scene at Bethlehem: The Nativity (31.28), once attributed to the Master of Frankfurt, now being investigated as perhaps the work of Marcellus Coffermans; and Adoration of the Magi (80.43) by the Master of St. Sang. (See March 2008)                     

The Nativity portrays the adoration of the child by the Virgin and three kneeling angels in the foreground of a Romanesque ruin, with a Flemish landscape in the background.  Two shepherds and their donkey can be seen at the left; at the right Joseph enters, carrying a candle and accompanied by a female figure, who may be a midwife introduced into the story as later generations embellished it.  Three angels, with fluttering, jeweled robes and naively foreshortened faces, hover above the ruins.  The detail is meticulous.