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Matthew 2:11 (NLT)
They [the wise men] entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

DRAWING NOTES:

TIME OF DAY:
Night.

LIGHTING NOTES:
One of the wise men has a lamp on a stick & there are two oil lamps in alcoves in the walls, all of which illuminate this scene. Shadows are cast below figures, animals & objects.

CHARACTERS PRESENT:
The wise men bringing gifts to the Messiah (Jesus), who is held in his mother Mary’s protective arms. She is sitting on a cushion on the straw of the stable floor. Joseph (her husband) is standing to Mary’s side, looking puzzled as the wise men approach Jesus with their gifts.
A donkey & cow (with horns) are in the foreground, and a ewe with three lambs is by Mary’s feet.

RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
There are two versions of this scene:
01) (This page) Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Baby version). This version shows Jesus as a baby. The wise men are giving their gifts to Mary, Joseph &Jesus in the tradional stable, complete with animals, straw, a stone manger (unseen on the floor), etc.

02) (Next page) Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Toddler version). This version shows Jesus as a toddler of approximately 2 years old.

This picture has taken me a couple of days to complete, with many layers & details.
I have researched & found that a typical house of the first century in Palestine would often be a single room, with a raised section for the people to live in, & the lower section was where the family’s animals were housed for the night. The raised section can be seen behind Mary, Joseph & Jesus. It has a bucket, folks, cloth & ropes, all tools needed for looking after the animals in the foreground. In my picture the wooden door on that raised section would lead into another room of the house, so this was quite a well off family, possessing more than one room in their home!
To the extreme right of the picture another wooden door can be seen, which leads out into the courtyard, & allows the animals to be taken outside in the morning.

I have added dark wooden posts, ropes, hooks & a rope pulley in the immediate foreground, which acts as a “frame” around the scene.

Notice the dark blue sliver of night sky, visible through a narrow window, high in the all behind Mary.

Notice that Jesus is swaddled in blue strips of cloth. The shepherds of Bethlehem swaddled their lambs to keep them from blemishing, so that they could be used as a sacrifice in nearby Jerusalem. The reference to swaddling clothes on Jesus has been interpreted by many scholars to be a symbolic connection and foreshadowing of Jesus’ death, being “the Lamb of God”, led as a sacrifice to the cross.

Here is the scene without the figures, although this version includes the animals.

Background of Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Baby version, with animals)

Click on the colour bar below to view/buy this Background:
Background of Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Baby version with animals)

Here is the scene without the figures or the animals.

Background of Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Baby version, without animals)

Click on the colour bar below to view/buy this Background:
Background of Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Baby version without animals)

Here is the scene without the figures, animals or the foreground “frame” of wooden posts, ropes & pulley.

Background of Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Baby version, simplified)

Click on the colour bar below to view/buy this Background:
Background of Matthew 02 – The Nativity SET 02 – Scene 09 – Wise men giving gifts (Baby version simplified)