# Nativity [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GIOVANNI DI PAOLO]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Tempera on wood, 174 x 73 cm ## Commentary This panel probably shows a work produced by Giovanni di Paolo when he was already past his prime. On this picture the line of the roof of the stable slants steeply downward to the right, and the landscape roses to the right with its tiny, improbably small bushes and rocks, recalling fantastic turrets, and leads the eyes upward. The figure of the Madonna bent forward and the nodding St Joseph - tranquil pose - emphasize the vertical axis of the composition. This vertical axis, however, does not coincide with the median of the picture, and is not even completely vertical, but leans somewhat to the left, or in other words it stresses the asymmetry rather than the equilibrium of the composition. <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 \(streaming mp3, 16 minutes\):<br><a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/17\_cent/corelli\_christmas.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><b>Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto grosso in g minor op. 6 No. 8 \(Christmas Concerto\)</b></a> </td></tr></table> \*\*\* Keywords: \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* Author: GIOVANNI DI PAOLO Title: Nativity Time-line: 1451-1500 School: Italian Form: painting Type: religious ## Related artworks - [A Miracle by St Nicholas of Tolentino]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Antiphonary]() - [Antiphonary]() - [Antiphonary]() - [Antiphonary]() - [Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane]() - [Coronation of the Virgin]() - [Crucifixion \(detail\)]() - [Crucifixion \(detail\)]() - [Crucifixion]() - [Dante: Divina Commedia]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()