“Ecce Panis Angelorum”: The Manger as Altar in Hugo's BerlinNativity

Abstract

The Nativity by Hugo van der Goes in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin (Fig. 1) is unusual both in its long, narrow dimensions (97 × 245cm) and in its inclusion of two dramatic foreground figures, who open curtains to reveal the Adoration of the Child.1 Because of its horizontal proportions, it was suggested that this panel once formed the predella of the Monforte Altarpiece, a proposal that is now generally rejected.2 The traditional interpretation of the half-length figures in the foreground as prophets is still accepted in current literature, however, and the curtains that they hold have been characterized as the veil that is removed from the Old Testament by means of their prophecy.3 Although the theme of prophets disclosing the truth of the New Testament was popular throughout the Middle Ages, there seems to be neither a literary nor a visual tradition for prophets unveiling the Nativity as they do in Hugo's painting. Both the prophets and the curtains, in fact, as well as the unusual shape of the panel, can be explained in relation to the eucharistic nature of the Nativity theme. This study will examine the sources of each of these motifs, in order to clarify the liturgical associations of Hugo's painting.

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