Artists painting New Year and Christmas. "It was in January." The best pictures about New Year and Christmas

Nativity in Rus' it is a great holiday, second in importance only to Easter. On the evening before Christmas - Christmas Eve - it is customary to abstain from eating: “You can’t do it until the first star.” According to tradition, on this day, with the appearance of the first star in the sky, which symbolizes Bethlehem, believers end their four-week fast. Then, closer to midnight, Orthodox Christians go to church to celebrate Christmas there.

From time immemorial, the holiday of the Nativity of Christ has been a source of inspiration for Russian artists, poets and writers.

Christmas stood at the window and painted frosty flowers on the glass, waiting for the floors in the house to be washed, the rugs to be laid, the lamps to be lit in front of the icons and to be let in... - Vasily Akimovich Nikiforov-Volgin"Silver Blizzard"

The most beautiful and fragrant word in the world, “Christmas,” flowed through my soul like a cheerful wind. It smelled of blizzards and prickly pine paws. - Vasily Akimovich Nikiforov-Volgin"Silver Blizzard"

Christmas romance
Is yours New Year on dark blue
A wave in the middle of the urban sea
Floating in inexplicable melancholy,
It's like life will start again
As if there will be light and glory,
Have a good day and plenty of bread,
It's like life is swinging to the right
swinging to the left.
- Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky (1961)

What bliss that the snow shines,
That the cold got stronger, and it was drizzling in the morning,
That foil sparkles wildly and tenderly
On every corner and in the store window.
While serpentine, tinsel, gimmick
They rise above the boredom of other possessions,
The languor of the weeks before New Year's
to endure and endure - what a wondrous fate...
- Bella Akhmadulina, December 1974

Christmas

My calendar is half-scorched
blossomed in crimson numbers;
palms and opals on glass
the spell brought frost.
It poured out into a feathery pattern,
arched radiantly,
and tangerines and boron
the living room smells blue.
- Vladimir Nabokov, September 23, 1921, Berlin

Sergei Vasilievich Dosekin - Preparations for Christmas, 1896

It was a late and crimson evening,
The harbinger star has risen.
A new voice cried over the abyss -
The Virgin gave birth to a baby.

And there was a sign and a miracle:
In imperturbable silence
Judas appeared among the crowd
In a cold mask, on a horse.

Lords, full of care,
They sent the news to all ends,
And on the lips of Iscariot
The messengers saw the smile.
- Alexander Blok (1902)

Where the night casts anchor
In the remote constellations of the Zodiac,
Dry leaves of October
Deaf suckers of darkness,
Where are you flying to? For what
Have you fallen from the tree of life?
Bethlehem is foreign and strange to you,
And you didn’t see the manger.
There are no offspring for you - alas,
Sexless malice possesses you,
You will go away childless
In their drowned coffins.
And on the threshold of silence,
Among the unconsciousness of nature,
Not for you, not for you, doomed
And the stars have eternal peoples.
- Osip Mandelstam (1920)

On this bright holiday

On this bright holiday -
Christmas holiday
We'll tell each other
Nice words.

The snow falls quietly:
It's winter outside,
A miracle will happen here
And will set hearts on fire.

Let your smiles
On this wonderful day
They will be our happiness
And a gift to everyone.

The sounds of life flow
Happiness and goodness,
Illuminating thoughts
With the light of Christmas.
- Khomyakov Alexey Stepanovich (1804-1860)

The State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin has implemented another significant project. In the halls of the Moscow museum there was an exhibition, dedicated to creativity the outstanding artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio. The exhibition takes place as part of the Year of Italy in Russia.
The exhibition includes 11 works by the master from the collections of Italy and the Vatican. The exhibition is small, but rare in its content. Among the presented works are such masterpieces of European painting as “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” from the Borghese Gallery, “Entombment”, which almost never leaves the walls of the Vatican Palace, “Supper at Emmaus” from Milan’s Brera Gallery, “Conversion of Saul” from the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo and other paintings.

The selection dedicated to Christmas includes the following paintings:

4. Giorgione. Adoration of the Magi.

5. Rogier van der Weyden. Adoration of the Magi.

6. Rembrandt, Harmens van Rijn. Flight to Egypt.

7. Hugo van der Goes. Christmas.

10. Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov. Nativity.

12. Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin. Christmas.

Giorgio Vasari(1511-1574) - Italian painter, architect and writer.

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky(1757-1825) - Russian artist, master of portraiture.

Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, better known as Giorgione (1476/1477 – 1510)) - Italian artist, representative Venetian school painting; one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance.

Rogier van der Weyden(1399/1400 – 1464) – van Eyck’s rival for the title of the most influential master of early Netherlandish painting.

Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn(16-6-1669) - Dutch artist, draftsman and engraver, great master of chiaroscuro, the largest representative of the golden age of Dutch painting.

Hugo van der Goes(c. 1420-25 – 1482) – Flemish artist. Albrecht Dürer considered him the largest representative of early Netherlandish painting, along with Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden.

Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510) is the nickname of the Florentine artist Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, who brought the art of the Quattrocento to the threshold of the High Renaissance.

Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio(1573-1610), Italian artist, reformer of European painting of the 17th century, one of the greatest masters of the Baroque. One of the first to use the “chiaroscuro” style of painting - a sharp contrast of light and shadow.

Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov(1862-1942) - Russian and Soviet painter. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1942). Winner of the Stalin Prize, first degree (1941).

Shebuev, Vasily Kozmich- (* April 2 (13), 1777 in Kronstadt - June 16 (28), 1855, St. Petersburg) - Russian painter, actual state councilor, academician, honored rector of painting and sculpture Imperial Academy Arts (1832), one of the leading masters of late classicism and academicism.

Eugene Henri-Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) – French painter, sculptor, ceramicist and graphic artist. Along with Cezanne and Van Gogh, he was the largest representative of post-impressionism.

(Bella Akhmadulina, December 1974)

(Illustrator Alexander Dudin, 1953.)

I begin my New Year's review of paintings dedicated to the annual celebration of Christmas and the New Year with this general symbolic generalized illustration to create the appropriate mood for the reader. This does not mean that I will show reproductions with ordinary decorated Christmas trees and children and adults having fun around them, but I will try to show something non-banal, but original from this set of paintings on the named topic, which, as it turned out, were not so many painted by artists. If we had not collected the entire classical biblical series of paintings painted by the great masters of the past, then the name and objectives of our study would have been different. But there are modern original exclusive painting subjects that are worth highlighting and showing as a reflection of the Christmas holiday and the New Year.…

Naturally, I cannot, in my usual manner, evaluate the New Year and Christmas paintings in question from the point of view of a doctor, as I tried to do in previous reviews, but I will try to discuss the reproductions as an ordinary viewer and amateur in art. And in this review I have the right to select non-trivial subjects, rare paintings by famous artists and images unexpected for some authors, paintings with humor and exclusive subjects. But all of them were written on the occasion of Christmas or New Year holidays, often combining both celebrations.

For example, completely unusual picture Salvador Dali, written for a French women's magazine"Vogue" (pronounced vog, from fr.   - “fashion”) - women's fashion magazine published since 1892 publishing house Condé Nast Publications,

is perceived as a joke of a genius.

As far as I could see and understand, it shows two parts of an open arch in the form of a leaning man and a woman, from whose mouths green Christmas tree decorations - droplets or light bulbs - are lowered on a pendant. The divided balusters are made as parts of a person's face. Above you can see spruce trees with brightly and radiantly shining lights...

Dali's Christmas design for Vogue 1946. The artist depicted an allegorical New Year’s landscape with metaphorical details of decor and architecture...

It is quite natural that artists could not ignore such subjects that had to be transferred to canvases with their magic brushes. Where else can you find paintings for cheerful images, fabulous, colorful, cheerful and fantastic in content, if not during the Christmas and New Year holidays? This is one of the old German engravings, in which

children and Santa Claus himself gathered at the “Claus tree” (German: Klausbaum). Engraving from the German book “50 Fables with Pictures for Children.”

Of course, it is unlikely that there will be paintings by the great masters of the past, when there were no traditions to celebrate these days and paint them in paintings. After all, the first mentions of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ in Russia appeared only at the very end of the 15th century. And celebrating the New Year with a Christmas tree is even later.

On December 15, 1699, Peter 1 issued a decree on a new calendar, and therefore the New Year began to be celebrated on January 1. Because of Peter I’s passion for Europe, New Year celebrations began to be celebrated in the manner customary there. The celebrations have become a more fun and vibrant event for the Russian people. Based on Dutch traditions, people began to decorate their homes with pine branches, which were supposed to remain until the Nativity of Christ. The New Year holiday has its own main character– Santa Claus, a fairy-tale character who also came to us from Europe in the second half of the 19th century under the name Santa Claus. In Russian tradition, he had a granddaughter, Snegurochka.

On this bright holiday

On this bright holiday -
Christmas holiday
We'll tell each other
Nice words.

The snow falls quietly:
It's winter outside,
A miracle will happen here
And will set hearts on fire.

Let your smiles
On this wonderful day
They will be our happiness
And a gift to everyone.

The sounds of life flow
Happiness and goodness,
Illuminating thoughts
With the light of Christmas.
- Khomyakov Alexey Stepanovich (1804-1860)

True, even before Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, the first guest who came to the New Year was a Snow Woman or Snowman, made up of rolled balls of fresh snow, marked with charcoal facial features, a carrot instead of a nose, a bucket or pan on the head, and a broom in hands made of branches ...

Children are friends with him in the yard.
He loves frost and wind.
He won’t go wherever he wants,
And it stands from morning to night.
He doesn't eat, doesn't drink, doesn't sleep,
And a snowball is flying above him...
He was not used to living in a warm place.
From - ha - yes - whether? (Snowman)

(Alexandrenko Elena)

"Snegurochka" (literally, "girl made of snow").

But the artist Sergei Sviridov decided to diversify the company of the usual snowmen or Snow Women and painted the Snow Maiden in the form of a small sprout of a snow granny in the typical appearance of rolled balls of fresh snow, lined with coals of facial features and buttons, a carrot instead of a nose, a red bucket or pan on the head (still , woman!) and brooms in hands made of branches... And from under the bucket-hat sticks out a blond “tuft of hair” made from wood chips or broom twigs...

This Snow girl - Snegurochka stands in the yard next to a decorated Christmas tree and waits for a real girl to appear from the window in the morning and smile at her, exclaiming: “Happy New Year, dear friend!”

Our other guest will be Santa Claus, whom he brought

artist Valentin Gubarev in the painting "New Year's Eve". The artist, endowed with a bright personality and a special, non-trivial vision of the world, draws his subjects with great humor. One of which shows the arrival of Santa Claus, sitting on a children's sleigh with his legs curled up. The sled is pulled by a long-nosed, thin lady in a wide coat and a red hat. Probably a teacher at a local school, who was tasked by the teachers' council to organize the New Year's Eve party. A cheerful red puppy shows her the way, turning his head towards her and, with a ringing bark, advising her where to go next. Santa is riding through a Russian village with a bell tower visible in the distance...

A different vision of Santa Claus is offered to us in a beautiful image by the self-taught Canadian painter Stuart Sherwood, who loves to paint everything related to the Christmas holidays, not sparing the bright red shades and humor, as in this untitled painting. But we ourselves can describe it, as we see it:

Here he is reclining in a comfortable position in white socks with an unkempt white shock of hair on his head and face, continuing in a long beard, on a chair with a retractable footrest, and carefully reading the list of gifts and addresses, what and where he will have to deliver all this to New Year. According to the recommendations in the book “Very good boys and girls” lying next to Teddy on the floor.

And on this funny picture by the American popular artist Norman Rockwell, drawn by him in 1939, Santa Claus sits on a stepladder near a map of the world and also reads a list of “very good” children, and develops his route for Christmas night. By the way, many collectors are hunting for his paintings. And at Christie’s auction in 2007, a selection of them fetched $2.5 million (the illustration graced the cover of The Saturday Evening Post magazine). (We will meet with this artist later in the story).

Now you can get acquainted with the images of Russian Snow Maidens, which have taken root only in Russia in the paintings of Russian artists. And among them is the first Snow Maiden in the painting of the same name by V.M. Vasnetsov, drawn by him back in 1899.

The Snow Maiden - the daughter of Spring and Frost - is a favorite fairy-tale character of the Christmas holidays, although the libretto of the opera does not say about Christmas and the New Year, but reveals the tragic love story of the Snow Maiden and the shepherd Lelya and her death from the rays of Yarilo - the Sun, for having known love not being human. However, Vasnetsov painted his picture under the influence of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” and the opera created based on it by Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1881), written, in turn, based on the play of the same name by Alexander Ostrovsky (1873).
In the picture, as in the scenery of an opera, there is a fabulously beautiful night: snowy forest, flooded with moonlight, starry sky. Her fur coat, mittens, and hat absorbed all the shades of snow, forest, and sky. Dazzling white snow, blue-green night, young fir trees in the foreground - everything in the picture is shown reliably with extraordinary precision by the brush of a great master - the singer of Russian nature.

Mikhail Vrubel presented his image of “The Snow Maiden”, (1890). The painting was painted in the post-impressionist style. The prototype of the image of the Snow Maiden, his Muse (as well as the Sea Princess and Spring), has always been his wife, actress Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela. Throughout her married life, she was a mystery to the artist with her characteristic attractive force.

In the guise of the Snow Maiden, the artist showed the girl’s snow-covered flowing curls, with large snowflakes sparkling on them like precious jewelry. In her face, which he always liked, there is a languid, slightly surprised, distant look, and there is also a certain childishness in her closed lips. Snow-covered spruce branches cast patterned shadows with a bluish tint. As the mistress of a fairy-tale forest, the Magician Snow Maiden is not afraid of cold and frost, and you just want to hide her childish, delicate bare hands in a muff or put mittens on them...

But this picture, like the previous one, only by its name refers to Christmas or New Year, symbolizing their arrival and our custom of generalizing them.

But we got distracted by the New Year's celebrations and forgot to buy Christmas trees! We immediately go to the Christmas tree markets in order to have time to purchase this important and beautiful attribute. New Year's holiday. Here is one of these paintings by Henry Manizer. And it would be a pity not to show it, because it shows all the breadth and character of the Russian soul, long fur coats of women and sheepskin coats of men, scarves and winter fur hats, hubbub and unbridled joy on their faces.

Henry Manizer "Christmas Tree Bargaining". As it is written in the footnote under the picture – “Before Christmas, three days before, in the markets, in the squares, there was a forest of fir trees. And WHAT Christmas trees! There is as much of this goodness in Russia as you want. On Theater Square, it used to be - a forest.”

And another Christmas tree bazaar, painted by the provincial Russian artist Alexander Bukchuri:

Buchkuri Alexander Alekseevich (1870 --1942) in 1906. At this bazaar, a calmer public, obviously from wealthy families, with their children chooses the tree they like and other attributes to decorate the Christmas tree and home. The goods are placed around separately so that the buyer can appreciate the beauty of the tree; they are already mounted on the crosses. Buy it, take it home and immediately place it in the place you prepared in advance in the room.

And now it’s all about “Christmas Tree Sale,” painted ten years later. B.M. Kustodiev, unfortunately, was already confined to a chair due to increasing paralysis of his legs...

Folk holidays and celebrations were one of the artist’s favorite themes. And Christmas, of course, occupied a place in his work special place. The painting depicts what happens somewhere in Russia on New Year's Eve. Crowds of shoppers, carts with horses loaded in them, beautiful Christmas trees carried to the sleigh. They sell Christmas trees to decorate the house, for children's amusement, for a festive mood, for the difficult but exciting process of decorating a Christmas tree, which the whole family does, as shown in the following picture.

Boris Kustodiev. “Christmas tree auction”, 1918. Krasnodar regional Art Museum them. F.A. Kovalenko.

I remember the previous rush with buying a Christmas tree in advance and temporarily placing it on the balcony. And also boxes of old toys pulled out of cabinets, chests of drawers, removed from mezzanines. The appearance of new ones, especially German ones, distinguished by their beautiful colors and weightless material... The smells of old cotton wool, toys, especially soft ones, which absorbed and preserved them, traces of confetti or all sorts of powders and the crunch of broken fragments underfoot, which will be swept up, but will not disappear until the end of the New Year holidays...

Christmas
My calendar is half-scorched
blossomed in crimson numbers;
palms and opals on glass
the spell brought frost.
It poured out into a feathery pattern,
arched radiantly,
and tangerines and boron
the living room smells blue.
- Vladimir Nabokov, September 23, 1921, Berlin

Sergei Vasilievich Dosekin - Preparing for Christmas, (1896). The tree and gifts are not yet visible in the picture, but the family has gathered to make garlands and decorations for the house. It’s not like going to a store and choosing toys at the Christmas tree market that you like or order by kids, whose fantasies sometimes exceed their capabilities and retail chains and parents. And advertising is often to blame for this. Like this one:

On the advertising canvas, in in this case paintings American artist Nicky Boehme is invited to see how best to arrange and decorate everything in the house on his cut in a series of bright and colorful paintings: “A BEAUTIFUL WINTER’S TALE FROM NICKY BOEHME.”

The “spectators”, fascinated by the display of the interior, have already gathered and are ready to sign a press release with recommendations for consumers and retail chains. Everyone is delighted! And penguins, and a squirrel, and a cat and a dog, and also a gazelle... People had not yet gathered, but our younger brothers had already sensed it and rushed in early.

The Christmas tree is also decorated alone, if things don’t work out, or in front of the crown in a white wedding dress, as this charming girl is wearing with what seems to me to be a sad face. Although sadness can also be calm and temporary. And tomorrow her face, perhaps, will light up with a cheerful, joyful smile, and rainbow Christmas tree lights will be reflected in her eyes...

Alexey Mikhailovich Korin - Christmas tree, 1910

But there is also a sad decoration of the Christmas tree by two lonely women, perhaps a mother with an unlucky or abandoned (divorced) daughter, who has a handkerchief in her hands, perhaps she is crying...

Jozsef Riepl-Ronai. " Winter evening. Decorating the Christmas tree" 1910. One of the women prepares another candle, attaching it to the tree. Her face is sad and thoughtful, because she is experiencing the even sadder state of the second woman, sitting at the table and covering her face with her hands. This state is referred to as "Facepalm" (English: face - face, palm - palm). This is a physical gesture - “face closed hands" which is a manifestation of disappointment, shame, despondency, irritation or embarrassment." This gesture is sometimes called “little hand” or “hand of hand”)...
This is the first time I have come across such terms... So, this is her adult daughter, her child, because under the picture there is such a note - “Child facepalm”... Maybe. There is no arguing with the author.

And in the next painting by the same Hungarian artist, there is again the same gloomy setting on Christmas evening in which one, younger woman, writes something on an open secretary. The older woman, perhaps the mother, stands there, upset, waiting for the letter to be completed. Both are dressed in coats and hats and are about to leave the house. The elderly lady seems to have a stick in her hand for support when walking...

Joseph Rippl-Rone. Christmas. 1903.

On the bedside table in a clay pot against the background of the carpet there is a modestly decorated small Christmas tree. On the sides are two unlit candles under burgundy lampshades... Not everyone's holidays are fun and carefree.

Christmas romance...
Your New Year in dark blue
A wave in the middle of the urban sea
Floating in inexplicable melancholy,
It's like life will start again
As if there will be light and glory,
Have a good day and plenty of bread,
It's like life is swinging to the right
swinging to the left.
(Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky (1961)

Edvard Munch "Christmas in a Brothel", 1904.

The painting “Christmas in a Brothel” by the famous and talented Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in the expressionist style was completed in 1904/05. and is housed in the Munch Museum in Oslo. The painting was created during a difficult time for Munch. As a result of various worries, Munch suffered from anxiety mental conditions, which he tried to cope with with the help of alcohol and drugs. He had to periodically undergo treatment in a psychiatric clinic.

A visit to a brothel in Lübeck at Christmas left him in a state of “slight melancholy” due to the impressionability of the situation when the “working” girls had just finished decorating the Christmas tree. He considered the picture he painted ironic, sentimental and ugly. Prostitution was Munch’s favorite theme , and later he would create a whole series of paintings, The Green Room.

But we are again distracted from the main task - to prepare for the New Year, and the toys are not all hung on the numerous Christmas trees. Some of them lie on the table, as depicted in the painting by contemporary artist T.V. Bessonova.

Bessonova Tamara Vladimirovna "New Year", 1955

From under the sad Pierrot’s mask you can see beautiful Christmas tree paws, and between them is a colorful masquerade mask, all covered in sparkles, and a simpler one at the feet of a monkey. And fans for masquerade masks and various large balls, which I looked at with surprise little Parsley in the foreground...

An unknown artist presented "A Festive Table of Gifts for a Girl" for Christmas, (1840) . “Table of Christmas Gifts for a Girl,” unknown artist.

The girl doll sitting at the table, against the backdrop of a sparsely decorated Christmas tree, shows few objects, possibly gifts. There are yellow shoes, a white blouse with a blue belt, garlands of pink paper flowers, a basket of apples and a vase... The shoes are really for a girl, but she doesn’t care strange picture replaced by a doll... What the author wanted to say. There is no one to ask, since he is not known to us.

And if there are still few toys in the pictures presented so far, then the shops are still open and the metro is still working and it looks something like how Natasha Villon painted them: The escalators are overcrowded, barely able to accommodate all the customers with bags, bags, and children with toys in their hands. Everyone is rushing home to have time to decorate the Christmas tree and prepare goodies and outfits. Christmas has begun and the New Year is coming soon... The picture of the New Year's metro is filled with noise and movement. Everyone is excited and humor is visible in each of the passengers going down the escalator into the subway. The hat-cap has almost fallen onto the girl’s face, and from under the “airfield” cap only black mustaches can be clearly seen. Two loaves, like the ears of a hare, emphasize the face of a woman in a black headscarf standing with eyes closed and not afraid to fall due to the insuring density of the crowd... A funny girl with a big teddy bear smiles at a small dark-skinned young man with big skis.

Soon the escalator will be free of people already familiar to us, who will disperse in different directions. And others will fill the miraculous staircase until they completely dry up...

Artist Natasha Villon, “Pre-New Year Metro”

Sometimes a grandmother, who has more free time while still at work or at school, begins to decorate the Christmas tree herself, looking at the toys and remembering each one, what it is called and where it should be hung... It is possible that the grandmother suddenly begins to remember the Christmas holidays or celebrating the New Year in your younger years. And the toy in her hand lingers until a kaleidoscope of episodes or specific faces from the memories of distant childhood or youth passes by... Let’s not disturb her.

Egor Zaitsev "Christmas Tree", 1996

I would like to hope that another grandmother, somewhere in Ukraine, had previously prepared all the treats for the arrival of her grandchildren and children. In any case, when you look at the tables arranged in the kitchen and what is placed on them, your mouth will water, and once you try it, you will lick your fingers. I know for sure that Ukrainian buns, pampushki, dumplings with anything are the most delicious. There are mashed poppy seeds and kutia in the makitras, under the towels there are slices or a piece of lard, fried pig in sour cream with a crispy crust, and in jars there are various pickles. In general, you can’t list everything, but judging by the picture, everything was provided for by the caring grandmother and is ready to be served.

Nadezhda Poluyan-Vnukova (Ukraine) – “At Grandma’s before Christmas.”

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova did the same, who became an artist in Soviet Russia. In her painting, she has also prepared a New Year's treat and the festive table, set under a decorated Christmas tree, is ready to receive guests.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova (sister of Emperor Nicholas II) "New Year's treat." (1935).

In the imperial family, all children were taught painting, but only Grand Duchess Olga ( youngest daughter emperor Alexandra III) became a fairly famous artist.

It seems to me that the colors in the picture are faded. They either faded with time, or the princess did not have the opportunity to buy better ones. After all, she was destitute in Soviet times and was no longer a princess...

And now you can invite guests and start celebrating Christmas and the New Year, which is what the artist A.F. painted. Chernyshov.

Scenes from family life Emperor Nicholas I.
Christmas tree in Anichkov Palace.
Artist Chernyshev A.F.

In the picture there are women in elegant ball gowns, men in tailcoats and uniforms, children in elegant and fashionable dresses and suits for their age. The Christmas trees in the hall are decorated, and there are huge chandeliers on the ceiling. Everything is solemn and decorous, because the presence of royalty or members of his family, or even the Emperor of Russia himself, is felt.

Charles Green (?). "Christmas Comes Only Once a Year" (1896). Charles Green, “Christmas Comes But Once A Year,”

Rich family. Christmas dinner (another name for the painting). Guests are served by a maid or cook (cook, cook) in a cap and apron. She brings out a platter of steaming roast turkey, which catches the guests' eyes. Although some are indifferent and busy talking. Obviously, the owner is standing and keeping order on the table and in the service...

This is all I could find out about this picture, which was shown on the Internet more than once. Even about the artist it was not possible to find any information except his name, but the picture corresponds to the idea of describing the chosen topic.

Viggo Johansen "Merry Christmas" (1891) Viggo Johansen. "Merry Christmas", 1891. Museum HIRSCHSPRUNG.
The Dane Viggo Johansen, a representative of the Skagen Artists group and director of the Danish Academy of Arts, could not resist the temptation to depict Christmas.

A decorated, beautiful Christmas tree shines brightly in a darkened room. Around her, the mothers or older sisters of the children staged a round dance, in which all the participants, holding hands, dance, lead a round dance and sing in Danish...

So, New Year and Christmas days have come and continue. As the celebrations progress, new ones arise or all sorts of shortcomings and worries arise. Like, for example, these two charming girls (and perhaps the eldest is a gentle boy - the viewer will understand) decided to light additional decorative fragrant candles under the Christmas tree on the roof of a beautiful medieval castle. Or install a flag on the tower...

Felix Ehrlich “Christmas”, (1889). “Christmas” Felix Ehrlich (1866-1931), a German artist, beautifully and subtly painted this tender children’s picture. How nice and Beautiful face at older girl(boy?), soft pink, white hands, all of her in a natural pose. Like the youngest, frozen by the impression and watching with attention what her sister is doing. I also look and can’t tear myself away from these adorable kids...

Karl Olof Larsson was considered a “hillbilly” by some of his critics for his desire to depict rural subjects. (Carl Olof Larsson, 1853-1919). Swedish artist and author of frescoes, oil paintings and watercolors, considered one of the most revered Swedish painters. Larsson's mother was a laundress, and his father was a simple worker.

Carl Larsson dressed the girl in a clearly rural outfit in a typically folk style. This colorful blouse and bright red apron on a black skirt are very suitable for the same colored hat, dashingly put on the head of the teenage beauty, that it is impossible to admire her. It was not for nothing that she was placed on a chair, probably not for empty staring, but for the performance of poetry or a song. Although she seems to be attaching a candle to a tree branch. But the girl is shy and, blushing, lowered her head...

In another picture by the same author, a boy in a Santa Claus hat and funny oversized boots is either adding toys or reading out the text, and one of the older girls or mother is watching and listening to the boy. And Karl Larsson exclaims in his painting:

Now it's chirstmas again! Now it's Christmas again!

The children will go to bed early
On the last day of December,
And they’ll wake up a year older
On the first day of the calendar.
The year will begin with silence,
Unfamiliar with last winters:
Noise behind the double frame
Barely perceptible.
But the guys are calling outside
Winter day through ice glass -
Into the refreshing cold
Of cozy warmth.
With a kind word we'll remember
Years old care,
Starting early in the morning
New day and new year!

(The children will go to bed early... S. Marshak)

Early in the morning, not even dressed yet, the children hid at the door of the room where there was a decorated Christmas tree, looking out to see if there was a bag of gifts under the tree...

American artist Henry Mosler in his painting “Christmas Morning” (1916) depicted a moment of anticipation of pleasure and exciting anticipation from the possible receipt of familiar and long-awaited gifts from Santa Claus, who never forgets about them. He won't forget!

It’s not for nothing that he guards the pre-dawn pre-New Year’s dream of a girl in a painting by another American artist, admiring her and the serene expression on her face...

"Santa Claus", (1921). The work of American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell.

Wise, kind Santa Claus plucks his beard and carefully looks at the expression on his face and listens to the breathing of the sleeping girl, trying to unravel her dream and guess her future. And on her beautiful and gentle face you can see a light, kind smile. Probably one of the pleasant dreams that often happen morning dreams when you don’t want to wake up at all...

Another Christmas morning in a large family.

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller "Christmas Morning", (1844). Belvedere, Wien. Father, mother, grandmother, a still married, possibly childless couple - all are busy with seven (I didn’t count more) children of different but close ages, who are not yet fully dressed, but are already active, cheerful and cheerful. This mood is transmitted to adults and gives them joy and satisfaction on this bright festive Christmas morning.

Another painting by the same master shows a cheerful scene of the whole family and grandchildren arriving at their grandmother’s with Christmas greetings and gifts.

Norman Rockwell depicts the stormy and noisy moment of a family's arrival at their estranged grandmother. And the grandson shouts at the top of his voice: We have arrived, grandma! Merry Christmas! We arrived in our new Plymouth! Merry Grandma...We Came in Our New Plymouth! (The picture was painted in 1951)

It seems strange to me the number of gifts, but we don’t know the composition of the grandmother’s family...

And for the road there are several paintings by animal painters depicting the moments when cats are half-prepared for the New Year.

Painting by the talented successor to the dynasty of artists of Neftekamsk - Alexander Mokhov, 2005.

The author of the picture talks about a curious red cat with white spots on its face, swinging a large ball with its paw, hanging on Christmas tree “paws” inserted into a vase. The cat admires the changing highlights of color on it as the ball rotates. On the table are the remains of a meal with orange peels, burning candle in a glass and wine glass. Nearby is a dark bottle of wine.

I. Demina “New Year’s Table” from the album “New Year is Coming” 2013. Contemporary young artist. Born in 1988. Her picture of a mischievous, cunning and serene dirty gray-brown cat is difficult not to notice and appreciate. Leaving on festive table his leftovers, neatly stacked on plates, he lies in a serene pose, resting his head on his paw, brazenly looking at the stunned hostess, expecting a thrashing from her, but continues to suck wine from the glass, thinking: “What will be, will be!” . Like, not the first time... Meowing at them all....
Cute and funny kittens treat the doll very carelessly, tearing off her wig and braid while reclining on it... And the Christmas tree is barely visible, since kittens are the mise-en-scène of the plot.

But it’s already midnight, which means that the New Year has already arrived and we should celebrate it properly with a glass of champagne in hand, which the last picture brought to your attention:
1. The work of world-famous illustrator Inge Lök. Inge Look is a well-known artist in Finland, famous for her cheerful lady aunties, and in Russian translation - laughing old ladies. Paintings with their images have long been settled in in social networks. So in this picture, the aunties, having glued their mustaches, celebrated the New Year with a cake and a glass of champagne...
What I wish you all to do is when the fiery (or “roasted”) rooster - the symbol of the future of 2017 - pecks at you...

Andrey Rublev. Nativity of Christ

GLORIA

We hear baby talk like singing
Those angels who suddenly, for the whole earth,
Through this night and starry burning
They came to the desert shepherds.
We notice fraternal agreement
And the meek clarity of simple people,
Open to Heaven, angels and happiness,
What was born on the holy night for them.
We learn faith and patience
Magi who searched for eternal depths,
And - again we hear singing in this world,
With which Heaven is full.
Oh, Lord, Great, Beginningless,
Creator of all stars, blades of grass and people,
You console this sad world
Your immeasurable closeness!
You see the sorrow of the earth: all our inability
To look for you, to love you, to accept you, to find you;
And you leave this singing in the middle of the world,
Like the fulfillment of every path.
Your star is burning - holy humanity,
And the world goes to its great love;
And if anyone saw her, it means eternity
Stopped over his soul.

Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy)1960

Joseph's Dream. Alexander Andreevich Ivanov. 1850s

While they were there, the time came for Her to give birth; and she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:6-7). Until the beginning of the 5th century, Christmas was celebrated simultaneously and as a feast of Epiphany. Therefore, the painting mixed the subjects of the birth itself and subsequent episodes, which, strictly speaking, relate more to the Epiphany - the worship of the Magi (kings), the worship of the shepherds, which do not always include an image of the birth of Christ directly.

Nativity of Christ. Gagarin Grigory Grigorievich

The Nativity of Jesus Christ was like this: after the betrothal of His Mother Mary to Joseph, before they were united, it turned out that She was pregnant with the Holy Spirit. Joseph, Her husband, being righteous and not wanting to make Her public, wanted to secretly let Her go. But when he thought this, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: Joseph, son of David! Do not be afraid to accept Mary your wife, for what is born in Her is from the Holy Spirit; She will give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. And all this happened, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: Behold, a virgin is with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, which means: God is with us. Rising from sleep, Joseph did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him, and received his wife, and did not know Her, when at last She gave birth to Her firstborn Son, and he called His name Jesus. (Gospel of Matthew. Ch. 1, 18-25)

Gagarin Grigory Grigorievich. Adoration of the Magi

Nativity of Christ (Adoration of the Shepherds).
Shebuev Vasily Kozmich. 1847
Image for the Annunciation Church of the Horse Guards Regiment in St. Petersburg

Nativity.
Repin Ilya Efimovich. 1890

The appearance of an angel announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds. Sketch.
Ivanov Alexander Andreevich. 1850s.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The Doxology of the Shepherds. Ivanov Alexander Andreevich. 1850

The appearance of an angel to the shepherds.
Petrovsky Pyotr Stepanovich (1814-1842). 1839 Oil on canvas. 213x161.
Cherepovets Museum Association

For this painting, the young artist, a student of Karl Bryullov, received the first large gold medal of the Academy of Arts in 1839. The canvas was in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Arts until its closure, then it was transferred to the Cherepovets Museum of Local Lore.

Nativity.
Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhailovich. 1885-1896
Murals of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv

Nativity.
Vishnyakov Ivan Yakovlevich and others, 1755
From the Trinity-Petrovsky Cathedral.
, Saint Petersburg

Christmas.
Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich. 1790
Tver Regional Art Gallery

Nativity.
Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich. Canvas, oil
Historical, Architectural and Art Museum "New Jerusalem"

Nativity.
Sketch of the painting of the altar wall of the southern chapel in the choir of the Vladimir Cathedral.
Nesterov Mikhail Vasilievich. 1890-1891
State Tretyakov Gallery

Magi. Sketch
Ryabushkin Andrey Petrovich. Paper, watercolor
Kostroma State United Art Museum

Lebedev Klavdiy Vasilievich (1852-1816)

Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lebedev Klavdiy Vasilievich

Angelic praise at the moment of the birth of the Savior.
Lebedev Klavdiy Vasilievich

Adoration of the Magi.
Valerian Otmar. 1897
Original mosaic for the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

The appearance of an angel to the shepherds. Nativity. Candlemas.

Nativity.
Mosaic based on the original by I. F. Porfirov
Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Savior on Spilled Blood), St. Petersburg

The Nativity of Christ and other sacred scenes from the life of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God. I. Ya. Bilibin.
Sketch of a fresco for the southern wall of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Olshany

Christmas tree trade.
Genrikh Matveevich Manizer.
Omsk regional museum Fine Arts named after. M. A. Vrubel

City smelters.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. 1867
State Russian Museum

Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. 1868
State Russian Museum

Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich.
State Vladimir-Suzdal Historical-Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve

Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. Canvas, oil.
Odessa Art Museum

Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. 1872
Ulyanovsk Art Museum

Christoslav policemen.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. 1872 Oil on canvas.
Perm State Art Gallery

Leonid Ivanovich Solomatkin (1837 - 1883) attended classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts and received a small silver medal for the paintings “Secretary’s Name Day” (1862) and “City Slavers” (1864), which V. V. Stasov welcomed as “a wonderful fresh offspring of Fedotov’s schools." The last plot was subsequently repeated several times; at least 18 author’s replicas are known, although the first version has not survived.

Waits. (Children of the old village).
F. V. Sychkov. 1935
Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts named after S. D. Erzya

In the cellar during the holy week.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich (1837-1883). 1878 Oil on canvas. 26.5x21.5.
Art Gallery Generations Fund of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug of Ugra
Admission: 2003

In the film “In the Cellar during Christmas Week” Solomatkin portrays his favorite characters - wandering musicians. Is talent a burden or a gift, a blessing or a curse? Talent is destiny. Talent did not make the artist and his heroes happy, but they fulfill their purpose with dignity. The musicians depicted in the picture knew better days. The cello the old man plays is an instrument of a professional, allowing the musician to claim a certain privilege, testifying to a certain level of life left in the past. The old man is accompanied by a boy who plays along with him on the pipe. Apparently, for the sake of this little boy, carefully covered with a warm scarf, the old man has to wander with a heavy tool from zucchini to zucchini, earning his bread. There is a Christmas tree in the room, decorated with toys, and masks and masquerade costumes hang on a hanger, giving the whole event a phantasmagoric touch. Art Gallery of the Generations Fund of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug of Ugra

Carols in Little Russia.
Trutovsky Konstantin Alexandrovich (1826-1893). No later than 1864

Magi (wise men).
Pavel Nikolaevich Filonov. 1914 Watercolor, brown ink, ink, pen, brush on paper. 37x39.2 cm.

Adoration of the Magi.
Pavel Nikolaevich Filonov. 1913 Wood, pencil, gouache. 45.7x34.9.
Private collection
Initially, the work was in the possession of the artist’s sister Evdokia Glebova.
On October 17, 1990 it was sold to an anonymous person at Sotheby's auction,
then on November 29, 2006, it was sold again at Christie’s for $1.5 million.
Christie's auction house

Adoration of the Magi.
Pavel Nikolaevich Filonov. 1913 Paper, gouache (tempera?), 35.5×45.5.
Private collection, Switzerland

Andrey Rublev.
"Nativity".
1405
Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Since ancient times, the celebration of Christmas in Rus' began on the night of December 25th. On the eve of the holiday, when the early winter sunset was burning in the frosty air and the pink light on the snow was becoming colder and colder and somehow imperceptibly turned blue, people left their houses, leaving pre-holiday preparations, and looked at the darkening sky, waiting for the first Christmas star . On this day, before the star, one was not supposed to eat anything, and in the evening the food was not very filling, but special and long-awaited - bread grains steamed in water with dried berries. It was called Sochivo, and the entire day of the pre-festival was called Christmas Eve.

The night of Christmas was approaching, time was receding, and in the celebration of its crossing through snow-covered Rus' - every person, old and young, was preparing to become a participant in the meeting on earth of a newborn baby. That evening, the first Christmas songs - carols - began to be played along rural and city streets. Their singing in ancient times was widespread throughout Rus'. The first recordings of North Russian carols came from the 17th century, but the chants themselves go back to ancient times. Carols glorify the past as if it were happening today, on this night, and the singers themselves are witnesses and participants in the events. Russian children, under the moonlight of Christmas Eve, creaking the frosty snow on the windowsills, talked in carols with shepherds going to worship the newborn Savior of the world.

Christmas was depicted by artists who lived at least, 1100 years before Rublev. According to the historian Eusebius of Caesarea (III-IV centuries), no later than the 330s, by order of Emperor Constantine, the Church of the Nativity was built in Bethlehem, where, undoubtedly, there was an icon of this holiday. The oldest images Christmases have survived to this day on silver ampoules into which oil consecrated in Palestine was poured. They date back to the V-VII centuries. This iconography took shape and developed for more than a millennium before it acquired the form in which Rublev’s predecessors and he himself wrote after them.

Valery Sergeev. "Rublev". ZhZL series No. 618.

"Nativity".
1745.
Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

As for the dating of the advent, then everything is not so simple. If the supernova explosion of the “Star of Bethlehem” was not inserted into the Bible later, because it lit up and became visible in 1054 from the birth of Christ, then the masters of the world wrote an extra millennium in our heads. The Council of Trent in Constantinople (Constantinople) definitely added an extra millennium...

Vladimir Pyatibrat. "Deep Book"

Gandolfino da Roreto (Gandolfino d'Asti).
"The Nativity of Christ."
End XV - beginning of XVI centuries
Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

When the hour came to give birth - it was about midnight on Christmas Day - Mary stood up and leaned against a column that was here. Joseph sat nearby, saddened, probably because he could not prepare everything necessary for the birth. He stood up, took hay from the manger, laid it at the feet of the Virgin Mary and turned away. At that moment, the Son of God left the Mother’s womb without causing Her any pain. So He found himself on the hay at the feet of His Mother. After washing Him, She wrapped Him in Her veil and laid Him in a manger.<…>The ox and the donkey bowed their heads over the manger in order to warm the Baby with their breath, because they understood that in such cold the barely covered Baby needed warmth. The mother, however, knelt down, prayed and offered thanks to God: I thank You, Lord and Heavenly Father, for giving Me Your Son, and I pray to You, Eternal God, and to You, Son of the Living God and My Holy Father.

Pseudo-Bonaventure. "Reflections on the Life of Christ." Around 1300.

"Nativity".

Icon "Nativity of Christ".
Mediterranean.
Second half of the 15th century.
Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Icon "Nativity of Christ".
Russia.
XVI century.
Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Icon "Nativity of Christ".
Russia.
End of the 17th century.
Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Icon “Nativity of Christ” in a carved frame.
Palestine.
Between 1801-1860.
Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.
"Nativity".
1890.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Birth of Jesus

In those days, the Roman Caesar Augustus issued an order to take a census of the entire earth.

And everyone went to sign up - each to his own city. Since Joseph was from the city of Bethlehem, he went there with Mary.

In Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth. She swaddled the baby and put it in a cattle feeder, in a manger, because there was no room for him and Joseph in the inn.

And at this time an angel appeared to the shepherds who were guarding their cattle at night and said:

I bring you great joy: the Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in Bethlehem. You will find a baby in a manger.

The shepherds came running and found Mary, Joseph and the baby lying in the manger. Then the shepherds told everyone about the knowledge and about the baby.

Eight days later the baby was named Jesus.

Then they carried it to Jerusalem to present the baby to God and sacrifice two turtle doves or two chicks of pigeons, as stated in the laws of Moses.

There was then a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. It was predicted to him that he would not die until he saw the Savior. Simeon came to the temple at the time when the parents brought Jesus there, took him in his arms and said:

Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace, for I have seen the Savior.

Joseph and Mary were very surprised at these words.

Anna the prophetess, eighty-four years old, was also there. She did not leave the temple at all - she prayed to God day and night. She approached the baby, and praised the Lord, and began to talk about him to everyone in Jerusalem.

Biblical legends. Derbent, Interexpress. 1992

"Nativity".
1503.
Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Mathis Gotthart Grunewald.
"Nativity".
Inzenheim altar.

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM ACTUALLY FLASHED UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 12TH CENTURY. (ABSOLUTE ASTRONOMICAL DATING OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST)

We will use the fundamental work of I. S. Shklovsky “Supernovae and related problems.” In it, the third chapter is almost entirely devoted to the “star of 1054”. The remnant of this outbreak is the modern Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus.

Let’s say right away that the date “1054” is taken from old chronicles, in particular Chinese and Japanese. In whom I. S. Shklovsky completely trusts. But we have no reason to do this. Moreover, it is not at all necessary to involve such dubious information. It turns out that this supernova explosion can be DATED PURELY ASTRONOMICALLY, and with high accuracy. This is what was done by American astronomers in the 20th century.

A reliable astronomical dating of the Star of Bethlehem is as follows: 1140, plus or minus 20-30 years. That is, the MIDDLE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY.

ADDENDUM ABOUT HALLEY'S COMET. Today it is known that the return period of Halley's Comet is approximately 76 years... Since the penultimate time Halley's Comet appeared in 1910, it is easy to calculate that around 1910 - 760 = 1150, Halley's Comet should also have appeared. Whether it was visible that year whether it was good or bad, we don’t know. But if it really appeared in the sky as spectacularly as in the 17th-20th centuries (for example, as in 1910), then for several years two bright phenomena could be observed in the sky - a starburst around 1150 and Halley's Comet around 1150 . Which, naturally, should have further strengthened the impression of people. Subsequently, the two phenomena could be confused and combined. The Gospels say that the Star of Bethlehem MOVED and led the Magi. Which is reminiscent of the behavior of a comet: “And behold, the star which they saw in the east WALKED BEFORE THEM, AND FINALLY CAME AND STANDED over the place where the child was” (Matthew 2:9). In Fig. 1.7 shows one of vintage images the Gospel Star of Bethlehem in the form of a “tailed star”. This is how comets were previously depicted.

We see an even more frank image of the Star of Bethlehem in the form of a comet in Giotto’s painting “The Adoration of the Magi”...

Giotto di Bondone.
"Adoration of the Magi."

The tail of the star is stretched upward to the left - which means that the artist most likely painted a comet and not, say, a star with a ray pointing to the infant Christ.

Albrecht Altdorfer.
"Holy Night (Nativity of Christ)."

It is curious that in the medieval painting “The Nativity” by Albrecht Altdorfer, TWO HEAVENLY LIGHTS are depicted at the top left, marking the Nativity. One of them is the huge Star of Bethlehem in the form of a spherical flare. And just below is a more elongated and swirling luminary, inside of which a small angel is depicted.

We see a similar image of exactly two heavenly “flares” that announced the birth of Christ on the famous medieval Paumgartner altar, created by Albrecht Durer allegedly in the 16th century.

Albrecht Durer.
Altar of the Paumgartners.
1503.

We see a spherical flash of the Star of Bethlehem, and a little lower (as, by the way, in Altdorfer’s painting) - an elongated swirling star with an angel inside. In both of the above paintings, a pair of celestial bodies is depicted in a bright yellow, golden color, which immediately catches the eye against the darker background of the rest of the landscape.

Thus, such medieval images apparently convey to us the ancient tradition of associating both a starburst and a comet that appeared at that time with Christmas.

Vasily Shebuev.
"Nativity".

Let us turn to the "Lutheran Chronograph" of the 17th century, which describes world history from the creation of the world to 1680. It talks, in particular, about the celebration of medieval Christian “Jubilees”, which were celebrated in the Vatican in the years 1299-1550. Jubilees were established in memory of Christ, as they were celebrated on the days of the January calendar. The Nativity of Christ was celebrated, close to the Kalends of January, and not another Christian holiday...

The years of Jubilees were appointed by the popes. According to the Lutheran Chronograph, in 1390 the “Jubilee of Christ” was designated by Pope Urban IV as the THIRTY-YEAR JUBILEE of the Nativity of Christ. Then he became ten years old, and from 1450, by order of Pope Nicholas VI, he became fifty years old.

Let's carry out a simple but very interesting calculation. Let us note that if the Jubilee from the Nativity of Christ in 1390 was celebrated as a THIRTY YEAR (that is, a multiple of 30 years), and in 1450 - as a FIFTY YEAR (multiple of 50 years), then through simple calculations we come to a complete list of possible ones - from the point of view medieval popes - years of the Nativity of Christ. Namely: 1300, 1150, 1000, 850, 700, 550, 400, 250, 100 AD. and so on in increments of 150 years into the past (150 is the least common multiple of the numbers 30 and 50). It is striking that the resulting list of dates does not include that “zero” year AD, where historians place the Nativity of Christ today. It turns out that the popes who organized the Jubilee did not at all think that Christ was born at the beginning of our era, as later chronologists of the 16th-17th centuries stated. The date of the Nativity of Christ was obviously something completely different for the popes of the 14th century.

Among the indicated dates, which are located quite rarely, we see a date that falls exactly in the middle of the 12th century. This is the year 1150. WHICH IS AGAIN PERFECTLY IN CONSISTENCY WITH THE ASTRONOMICAL DATING OF THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM IN THE YEAR 1140, PLUS OR MINUS 10 YEARS.

G. V. Nosovsky, A. T. Fomenko. "King of the Slavs".

Giovanni Battista Ortolano.
"Christmas".