The Mystical Nativity is Sandro Botticelli’s only signed work. Dated 1500-1501, it is an oil on canvas painting depicting Christ’s birth with a vision of his Second Coming as told by the Revelation of Saint John.
20 Inspirational Christmas Messages to Inspire Your Art
At Milan Art Institute, we’re always looking for artistic inspiration. We know that having a ready supply of ideas for painting is the one true way to ensure that we never get a creative block.
In past posts of this nature, we’ve suggested activities, like travel or urban sketching , lists of themed drawing prompts and even offered our readers places where they could find hundreds of free images to use as the basis for their paintings.
Christmas Quotes: A Source of Artistic Inspiration
And in this holiday season, we’d like to propose another source of inspiration: Christmas quotes. The reason why we like using inspirational Christmas messages as a source of artistic inspiration – aside from the fact that we love the holiday season – is that many of these quotes already evoke powerful images in our heads.
Think about it. In your average Christmas quote, you’ll find references to angels and Christmas trees and a white, magical world. From these word pictures could potentially arise some of the most hopeful and lovely paintings.
It’s with this in mind that we compiled a list of 20 inspirational Christmas messages and quotes. We chose most of them specifically because they reference some of the visual elements of the season.
Use them on their own as a source of inspiration or combine them with your favorite images to create your next series of paintings.
20 Inspirational Christmas Messages, Quotes and Sayings
Photo caption: Protector of the Promise Courtesy of Elli Milan
- Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. Zuzu Bailey: It’s a Wonderful Life
- Some Christmas tree ornaments do more than glitter and glow, they represent a gift of love given a long time ago. Tom Baker
- The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. Burton Hills
- Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin—inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night. John J. Geddes
- Christmas magic is silent. You don’t hear it — you feel it. You know it. You believe it. Kevin Alan Milne
- Santa Claus is anyone who loves another and seeks to make them happy; who gives himself by thought or word or deed in every gift that he bestows. Edwin Osgood Grover
Photo caption: Image by Iván Tamás from Pixabay
- Christmas waves a magic wand over the world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. Norma Vincent Peale
- At Christmas, all roads lead home. Marjorie Holmes
- The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood. Richard Paul Evans
- I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. Harlan Miller
- May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve. Unknown
- God goes to those who have time to hear him—and so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds. Max Lucado
- Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. Larry Wilde
Photo caption: Illustration by Cecil Aldin (April 1870 – January 1935)
- Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words. Harlan Miller
- Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand. Dr. Seuss
- And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. Taylor Caldwell
Dressed in holiday style
There’s a feeling
Silver Bells song
- It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. WT Ellis
- Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever. Richelle E. Goodrich
- The world has grown weary through the years, but at Christmas, it is young. Phillips Brooks
Snow at Argenteuil, Claude Monet
Monet painted his home commune in Paris blanketed by snow during the winter of 1874-1875. This large oil-on-canvas landscape painting shows boulevard Saint-Denis, the street where Monet lived at the time with his young family.
The Census at Bethlehem, Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Census at Bethlehem by Pieter Bruegel the Elder is inspired by the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verses 1 to 5. “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered in their own towns. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth to the city of David called Bethlehem … with Mary with whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.”
If you look closely, you’ll see Mary riding a donkey with Joseph leading the way.
The painting is on display at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium so make time to pop in if you’re Brussels for the Christmas markets.
Nativity Fresco, Giotto
This Nativity is a fresco painted by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. It shows Mary tenderly holding a swaddled baby Jesus, while being watched over by five angels.
It is part of a series of frescoes completed by Giotto around 1305. They cover the Chapel’s walls and narrate events in the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ.
The chapel is part of the complex of the Museo Civico of Padua. Click on the link for ticket information.
