Description

In the foreground, we can see Joseph talking to an innkeeper and looking for accommodation for Mary. The Carpenter's wife has got off the donkey and is standing at the edge of the road. The innkeeper shows Joseph with his finger that there is a stable in the distance. Seeing a two-part door at which the innkeeper stands is rare. The lower part was closed so that animals could not enter the house. The upper part of the door was opened to ventilate the room and let more light into the interior. In the background, you can see a typical Silesian town, and on one of the houses, there is a horizontal pole with a rim from a barrel - a beer wheel. According to the legend, the painter Willmann himself was a great fan of Krzeszów beer, and that is why during his work he often liked to escape to a nearby tavern. When he spent the whole night there, the next day he was not able to hold a paintbrush straight and the painting works at the church were strongly delayed. Abbot Bernard did not like it very much, and he decided to put an end to the painter's escape most simply - by locking him in the church. The dissatisfied painter was to say: "I will sit in the inn anyway!" - and painted himself as an innkeeper, leaving his self-portrait.