• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Giovanni Bellini's “Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Mark and Three Venetian Procurators” is on display at the Walters Art Museum. (Courtesy Walters Art Museum)

Add art to Advent preparation

December 6, 2018
By Mary K. Tilghman
Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, Local News, News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

If you’re looking for an artful way to prioritize Christ this Advent season, visit the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

The Walters is filled with images of the Madonna, the Nativity and the Annunciation, as well as all sorts of other works inspired by the Gospels.

Its seasonal traditions include a free tour that focuses specifically on the Christ Child and his mother, Mary. While the works are on permanent display, docent Barbara Pour will lead “The Christmas Story in Art,” an hour-long tour dedicated to them, Dec. 16 at 1 p.m.

The tour begins with a brilliantly-colored circa 1430 altarpiece depicting the Annunciation. Panels at the base of the work by Bicci di Lorenzo recall scenes from Mary’s life.

Around the corner is a life-size terra cotta sculpture of a very weary – some say meditative – Joseph sitting on a bench. The Tuscan piece was probably once part of a Nativity scene.

“He certainly had a lot to worry about,” said Pour, who has served the Walters for more than two decades.

The tour includes several Madonna and Child depictions, including the Raphael work that graced a U.S. postage stamp in 2011. Known as the “Madonna of the Candelabra,” the painting places Mary and the baby Jesus between the flames of two candelabra, a symbol used in images of ancient Roman rulers.

Pour chose Bernardo Strozzi’s 1615 work, “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” – shown on the cover of the December issue of the Catholic Review – to follow this majestic painting. In the humble scene, Jesus rests in a battered straw-filled basket and Mary wears simple clothes. They are surrounded by shepherds, not kings.

Bernardo Strozzi’s “Adoration of the Shepherds,” ca. 1615, is among the sesonal works on display at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. (Courtesy Walters Art Museum)

“Strozzi was an artist who felt Christ came to serve the poor,” Pour said, of a work in which, she added, “We finally see a painting where the mother and baby have eye contact.”

The tour includes several sculptures, including Neapolitan doll-sized images of the Magi, dressed in rich robes of real cloth, three medieval versions of the Madonna and Child from Germany, France and Spain, and an unusual ivory Madonna that opens into a triptych with scenes of the Passion of Christ. A French work, it dates to about 1200.

Pour also includes depictions of Jesus’s life between Bethlehem and Calvary, including a Spanish work of the “Road to Emmaus” by Spaniard Alonso Cano and the Holy Family’s “Flight to Egypt,” by Giovanni Odazzi. A 15th-century French ivory sculpture depicts the toddler Jesus playing at Mary’s knee.

The finale is an elaborate Belgian 1492 altarpiece whose centerpiece is the crucifixion with his mother fainting at his feet. Other sections of the work depict the whole Passion from Judas’ kiss to the walk to Calvary to the Resurrection.

“I never get tired of looking at it,” Pour said, noting that she always sees something new.

The Christmas Story in Art is one of several walk-in tours at the Walters, which also offers Spanish-language tours focused on Christmas and the Epiphany.

“We have so much devotional artwork in the museum,” observed Veronica Betancourt, manager of gallery learning at the Walters. “December is a busy time of year. And a deeply religious time.”

IF YOU GO

Walk-in tours at the Walters Art Museum are free on “free” Saturdays and Sundays, 1-2 p.m. No registration is required. In addition to the Dec. 16 tour, Pour is offering to lead group tours at other times in December.

For more information, visit thewalters.org/visit/tours/group-tours.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Mary K. Tilghman

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hope rises from ashes for St. Rita parishioners

  • Archbishop Lori and Supreme Knight Kelly meet with Pope Leo

  • ‘Big Boss’ begins first day visiting Catholic Charities programs

  • Jurassic World Rebirth Movie Review: Jurassic World Rebirth

  • Miami clergy raise concerns as Trump tours Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

| Latest Local News |

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

Archbishop Lori and Supreme Knight Kelly meet with Pope Leo

Hope rises from ashes for St. Rita parishioners

| Latest World News |

Catholic Church holds firm on not taking stand on political candidates, despite possible IRS shift

Pope’s prayer intention for July: That the faithful might again learn how to discern

Barron: With no clergy-penitent exception, WA abuse law threatens religious liberty

Augustinian prior opens up about papal vacation, first encyclical, appointments and tennis

3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Catholic Church holds firm on not taking stand on political candidates, despite possible IRS shift
  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School
  • Pope’s prayer intention for July: That the faithful might again learn how to discern
  • Barron: With no clergy-penitent exception, WA abuse law threatens religious liberty
  • Augustinian prior opens up about papal vacation, first encyclical, appointments and tennis
  • Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two
  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue
  • ANALYSIS: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ cuts expected to outweigh benefits for low-income families
  • Safeguarding remains a top priority with new appointment, US cardinal says

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en