Nativity

Description Set against the silhouette of a mountain, the Virgin rests beside the manger with the swaddled Christ Child. Three angels emerge from behind the mountain, one of whom announces the birth of Christ to the standing shepherd on the right. In the foreground, the infant receives his first bath while the seated Joseph watches the scene. The motif of Christ receiving his first bath is characteristic of Byzantine images of the Nativity and rarely appears in western European art.

Exhibitions

• Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1947.

Provenance Count Girolamo Possenti, Fabriano, before 1876, by purchase; Sale, Florence, April 1, 1880, no. 24; Count Gregoire Stroganoff (Grigorii Sergeevich Stroganov), Rome, before 1900, by purchase, his cat. 115.2; Henri Daguerre, Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1930, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1930