The Nativity
Donatello
1460–1470
- Medium
- Stucco and polychrome
- Dimensions
- 72.4 × 78.7 × 12.1 cm (28 1/2 × 31 × 4 3/4 in.)
- Genre
- Relief
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
religionpainting15th centuryred (color)blue (color)paintpolychromefamilieswomanplastermodeling (forming)Jesuspainting (coating)babiesfathersreligious figuresbluecoloringDevotionVirgin and child/Madonna and childhorsespainting techniquesItalianreligious scenessculpturemother and childVirgin Marystuccoholy familyChristian subjectsreligiouspolychromy
About
This relief shows the Virgin worshipping the Christ Child, framed by an ox and an ass, while Saint Joseph sleeps at the right. It is typical of a kind of popular, devotional image from the 15th century that could be mechanically reproduced. This composition exists in numerous replicas, which attest to its popularity, and appears to derive from a directly modeled terracotta prototype, now in Prato, Italy. The Virgin and Child are based on an autograph terracotta by Donatello, but the remainder of the composition appears to have been expanded by another hand.
