# Nativity [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO MARTINI]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Wood, 239 x 209 cm ## Commentary This beautiful altarpiece is completed by a lunette attributed to Matteo di Giovanni and has altar steps painted by Bernardino Fungai. As such it sums up the Sienese school in the late fifteenth century. After his years in Urbino working as an architect, Francesco di Giorgio took up painting once more. The evolution in his style compared to his earlier work is obvious. The artist had by now fully mastered the depiction of space. The figures are scattered, paired into couples whose movements counterbalance each other.Colours are carefully juxtaposed. The grandiose ruined arch that dominates the scene showed Francesco di Giorgio's love of the classical world which he depicted with the deft strokes of an architectural drawing. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 22 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/16\_cent/tallis\_mass.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Thomas Tallis: Mass \(Puer natus est\)</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Allegory of Discord]() - [Angel \(1, detail\)]() - [Angel \(1\)]() - [Angel \(2\)]() - [Angels]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation]() - [Architectural View]() - [Birth of the Virgin]() - [Chastity with the Unicorn]() - [Deposition from the Cross \(detail\)]() - [Deposition from the Cross]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()