Image Details

Kunsthalle, Hamburg/Bridgeman Art Library, NY

The baby Jesus flies down from heaven on the back of a cross, in this detail from Master Bertram’s 14th-century Annunciation scene (see photo of full painting in “How Can This Be?”). Jesus’ conception carried with it the promise of salvation through his death. It may be no coincidence, then, that the early church celebrated Jesus’ conception and death on the same calendar day: March 25, exactly nine months before December 25.