The Nativity

1504–7

In 1500 Fra (Friar) Bartolommeo left behind his painting career to join a monastery. Four years later he returned to painting, looking to Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo to form his new, quietly spiritual style. Here, he depicted the Nativity in a traditional, though especially intimate manner. The Virgin kneels humbly gazing at the Christ Child while Joseph assumes a post of restrained wonderment.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Fra Bartolommeo (Baccio della Porta; Italian, 1472-1517)

Date

1504–7

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

34 × 24.5 cm (13 3/8 × 9 5/8 in.); Framed: 52.7 × 35.6 cm (20 3/4 × 14 1/16 in.)

Origin

Italy

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Ethel T. Scarborough Fund; John G. Searle Family Trust, L. L. and A. S. Coburn, Mr. and Mrs. Lester King, John and Josephine Louis, Samuel A. Marx, Alexander McKay, Chester D. Tripp, and Murray Vale endowment funds; purchased with funds provided by Marilynn Alsdorf, Anne Searle Bent, David and Celia Hilliard, Alexandra and John Nichols, Mrs. Harold T. Martin, Mrs. George B. Young in memory of her husband, and the Rhoades Foundation; gift of John Bross and members of the Old Masters Society in memory of Louise Smith Bross; through prior gift of the George F. Harding, Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson, and Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester collections