Guiding Star

Title: Guiding Star

Artist: Ralph Hulett

Medium: Watercolor on paper

Size: tbd

Date: 1955

Location: The Animation Guild Loc. 839, Burbank.

Matthew 2:9-10 records that after the interview with Herod the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!

After the Magi have left Jerusalem, they would likely have followed a road that led south to Bethlehem, which was about six miles from Jerusalem, so the rest of the Magi's journey probably did not take very long. As such, it would have been difficult to determine the exact position of the star in relation to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, unless the object were only a mile high. However, the Magi being led by a supernatural sign does recall how God was able to lead his own people by fire and cloud in the wilderness as recorded in Exodus.

Ralph Hulett (1915-1974) was an American painter, illustrator, and animator. Ralph Hulett came to California as a teenager and attended high school in Glendale. From a young age, his artistic talents were obvious and upon graduation, he was awarded a four year scholarship to study at the Chouinard Art Institute. His instructors were Millard Sheets, Phil Dike, Phil Paradise and Herb Jepson. While still at college, he was hired by the Walt Disney Studios to work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. By the 1940s, he had earned enough seniority to receive screen credits for his work on such historic films as Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians and The Jungle Book.