The Nativity

Art Historical Context

Welcome to the European Paintings gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where find *The Nativity* byzzo Romano (Antonio di Benedetto Aquilio), masterful tempera on wood panel from the 0s. Measuring just 11½ x 26½ inches, this intimate work captures the sacred moment of Christ's birth in a horizontal format ideal for a predella—the narrative base of an altarpiece—common in late 15th-century Italian churches. Antoniazzo Romano, a leading Roman painter of his time, blends lingering Gothic elegance with emerging Renaissance naturalism. Here, the Virgin Mary tenderly cradles the infant Jesus ...