The Virgin of the Nativity

The picture is a fragment of a Nativity, the original composition of which is known from an early-sixteenth-century copy in the Musée du Petit Palais in Avignon. The Virgin was shown kneeling on the pavement adoring the Christ Child, who was embraced by the infant Saint John the Baptist. Saint Joseph was behind the infants, and two shepherds appeared to the right behind a broken stone wall. There are minor differences between the present picture and that at Avignon, but they conform in essential features, and there can be no doubt that the present picture was conceived as a small tondo.The picture probably dates from about 1500. The frame is a twentieth century reproduction.