The Nativity
Circle of Donatello
c. 1465
Medium
Stucco and polychrome
Dimensions
72.4 × 78.7 × 12.1 cm (28 1/2 × 31 × 4 3/4 in.)
Classification
relief
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
16143
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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...