# The Nativity \(detail\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [UNKNOWN MASTER, Bohemian]() - Date: 1401-1450 - Technique: Tempera on pine panel ## Commentary The Nativity \(detail\) c. 1430 Tempera on pine panel Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest The two shepherds appear to be the most life-like, notwithstanding the measured calm of gestures and carriage. In the representation of the Holy Family the master's hands were forcibly held down by the works of the preceding generation as well as by the forms and iconographic traditions they had established. In the treatment of this less important detail the painter could rely more freely on his own observations. Even in the modern sense of the term, the attitudes of the sheep are verisimilar; though few in number, the animals in the picture create the impression of a whole flock. ## Related artworks - [Crucifixion]() - [Jihlava Pietà]() - [Portrait of Duke Rudolf IV of Austria]() - [St Bartholomew and St Thomas]() - [St Margaret]() - [The Annunciation]() - [The Krumau Virgin]() - [The Madonna of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague]() - [The Nativity]() - [The Virgin, Two Heads of Christ, an Angel, a Thief, a Lion, a Skull and a Stag \(from a model-book\)]() - [Virgin and Child Enthroned]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()