The Census at Bethlehem is an oil-on-panel by the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted in 1566. It is signed and measures about 1155 × 1645 mm. It is currently held and exhibited at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, which acquired it in 1902. It is one of the first paintings in Western art to feature a significant snow landscape and was painted in the aftermath of the winter of 1565, which was one of the harshest winters on record.
Detail of Mary and Joseph
Detail of ruined castle at painting's top right
The Census of Quirinius was a census of the Roman province of Judaea taken in 6 CE, upon its formation, by the governor of Roman Syria, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius. The census triggered a revolt of Jewish extremists led by Judas of Galilee.
Mary and Joseph (right) register for the census before Syrian governor Quirinius. Byzantine mosaic, c. 1315 CE.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Census at Bethlehem (1566), oil on wood panel, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Jan Luyken, Joseph and Mary taking the census (1700), etching and book print, Haarlem, Netherlands
Jan Luyken, Joseph and Mary taking the census (1703), etching and book print, Haarlem, Netherlands