The Nativity

Piero della Francesca's Nativity is an oil painting on panel, probably dated to around 1470 to 1480, though scholars propose different dates. The scene is set not in Bethlehem but in a ruined rustic stable placed against a Tuscan-looking landscape of hills and towns. Its perspective and meticulous attention to detail are notable, as in the tufts of grass that divide one part of the scene from another. The Christ Child lies naked on the Virgin's blue cloak while she kneels nearby with her hands joined, an arrangement linked to devotional visions from the fourteenth century. Beside them, five singing and music-making angels play lute and viol, and on the right Joseph sits on a saddle. Mary's colours are read as symbols: blue for heavenly royalty, white for her virginity, and red for the Passion. The oil technique, then recent and of Flemish origin, is thought to have been important to the artist's development. The panel suffered considerable damage, and it remains debated whether it was left unfinished or whether old restorations account for its muted appearance.

Painter

Piero della Francesca

Date

1480

Medium

oil paint, panel

Dimensions

124 × 123 cm

Museum

National Gallery, London

Movement

Early Renaissance

Genre

religious art

Depicts

boy, Mary, woman, Christ Child

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