There was a time, however, when the Nativity scene was dramatically different from the one which is popular today. Apart from the main protagonists (the sacred family), most of the details of the Nativity popularized by the pictorial arts were derived from later sources than the Gospels.
The two oldest depictions of the Nativity date from the 4th century.
The first is a wall painting which decorates the funeral chamber of a Christian family living around the year 380. This pictorial work was discovered in 1877 in the catacombs of Saint Sebastian in Rome. The other reference is to a painted scene on a sarcophagus in the Basilica of Saint Maximin and depicts the three Wise Men worshipping the Christ Child.
There were no pictorial representations of Christ’s birth in the first three centuries. It was not until the bitter dispute over the Arian heresy that the Nativity of Christ was instituted as an independent feast day. In the Eastern centers, a festival was universally observed by the 4th century on Jan. 6 which commemorated the birth of Christ, His epiphany to the gentiles (the adoration of the Magi) and His baptism.
The date of the Nativity feast’s introduction into the Church calendar was different in all five Patriarchates (Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome). In Rome and Africa, the Nativity was celebrated on Dec. 25 from about the same date. This was actually the date of a pagan festival in Rome which was originated in 274 by Emperor Aurelian as the birthday of the "unconquered sun (natalis solis invicti)." Sometime before 336, the Church of Rome established a commemorative festival of Christ’s birth, the Son of Righteousness. The first evidence of the Nativity celebration in the East as a separate feast comes from Constantinople.
Representations of the birth of Christ proliferated from the 4th century, particularly in books, like Psalters, which were used during the liturgy.
The earliest representations of Christ’s birth are found in the sarcophagus reliefs of the first quarter in the 4th century. They emphasize Biblical prophecy and its fulfillment in Christ. The reliefs show only the fundamental events of the Nativity. The ox and the ass appear in the earliest dated version, a Roman sarcophagus dating to 43 (now lost). These animals have become a permanent part of the Nativity icon. Generally one or more shepherds, and often also the Magi, appear on the scene, as in a sarcophagus found in Ancona Cathedral.
There are two traditions of iconographic representation of the Nativity.
The Western tradition sees the conception and birth of Jesus as divine events. Mary is virginal and because she was not subject to the curse of the daughters of Eve, did not suffer during labor. Thus, she is depicted seated, holding the Infant Jesus on her lap. At the end of the 14th century, under the influence of Italian artists, the Virgin is represented on her knees in a posture of adoration.
The Eastern tradition, on the other hand, emphasizes the reality of the incarnation of Jesus and his human birth. Mary, having just given birth lies, on a mattress and Joseph sits at her side, like the one depicted in an ampulla at the Monza Cathedral, from the 6th century. The tradition that the birth took place in a cave (which tended to prevail in the East) derives from the apocryphal Protevangelium of James or the Pseudo-Matthew. The Virgin is generally lying down, Joseph is seated, and two midwives bathe the Child in the foreground. The scene is possibly a derivation from classical scenes of the birth of Bacchus or Dionysus. Although the scene is pictured in a cave, the ox and the ass may be present. In the background, the annunciation to the shepherds is shown and frequently also the arrival of the Magi (11th c. Gospels, Bib. Nat. Paris). This version was current in medieval Italy (Nicola Pisano, Pulpit, Pisa Baptistery, 1260).
The crèche refers to the animals’ manger in which, according to Saint Luke, the Virgin placed Jesus when he was born. It later came to mean the place of the Nativity and then the Nativity. The term crèche (from the German Krippe) appeared in the 12th century. Legend connects it to Saint Francis of Assisi: He was said to have celebrated midnight Mass in 1223, with the approval of the Pope in Greccio, Italy, in a stable where men and beasts re-enacted the Nativity.
In the rest of Europe, a simplified version, derived from a mixture of East and West, was evolved with the manger set not in a cave but in a barn, as in the Early Christian sarcophagi. Early Renaissance painter Duccio represents the stable in the entrance to a cave.
Early Christian sarcophagi, such as one of the 4th century in the Laterans Museum, show the Virgin seated, to emphasize the painless nature of the birth, while the Child lies in His manger, with the ox and ass beside it, under a barn-like structure. Other compositions show the Baby lying over an elevated manger covered with a cloth and placed in an open stable, indicated by a roof supported by two pillars. This manger scene bears close similarity to the Christian altar. This scene remained throughout the Byzantine era.
The artistic rendition of the manger in an altar form vividly expressed the principal dogma of Christ’s incarnation.
In the late 14th century a change occurred. The Virgin was shown on her knees adoring the Child (Revelations of St. Bridget, 1370) as in a fresco in Sta. María Novella, Florence. Sometimes, Joseph kneels with her. This version remained current in the West throughout the Renaissance and was the form usually adopted in the construction of Nativity cribs. At the time of the Counter-Reformation a more realistic type appeared. Caravaggio shows the Virgin reclining on the straw, clutching the Child. Very often the scene was again combined with the Adoration of the Shepherds.
Nowadays, there are different versions of the Nativity scene. While the ox, the ass, the manger, and of course Jesus, remain in every Nativity, one or more shepherds are represented in the central scene. Mary at times may not be present, or may be situated at a far corner. Sometimes, the mother is not even looking at her Son. Joseph, meanwhile, is often times, omitted altogether. Other permanent elements are the Magi. They often appear in the early Christian art independently, apart from the manger and can be found in catacomb frescoes dating back to the Constantine period.
The introduction of the Christmas card in the 19th century made it one of the most familiar subjects of popular religious art.