The Nativity, 1499

About the Work

A framing architecture – enlivened by small figures unmentioned in the biblical narrative of Christ's birth – opens the view onto a pictorial world inviting further discovery: Mary sitting in a courtyard and tenderly cradling the new-born Christ; Joseph, bending over a wooden parapet on the left, an ox and a donkey, a shepherd looking out of a window in the central back and two angels are present in this intimate scene. The intricate, robust buildings with their false alignment seem surreal but reflect the ‘modern’ interests of artists around 1500 in the construction of perspective and a realistic spatial representation.