The icon, initially a triptych panel, is a Constantinopolitan work of art that depicts the Nativity, the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi, Joseph’s Dream, the Flight into Egypt, the Flight of Elizabeth, and the Massacre of the Innocents. These events are the Gospel passages read between December sixteenth and twenty-ninth. The landscape in the background isolates each scene, and reveals that the artist probably copied an illuminated manuscript.
The icon embodies the festive calendar of Christmas, and the spiritual significance of the Nativity of Jesus Christ.
