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Notes
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The stable is made of thatch over crude timber supports and the baby’s blanket is ragged and patched. Perhaps Joseph has cut the sticks with his knife and woven the simple wicker basket himself. A long swaddling cloth with a cord tie, in which the baby will be tightly bound, has been hung up to dry. The fresh cuts on the ends of the sticks are perilously sharp for a baby’s bed and, together with the knives and shroud-like swaddling cloth, hint at the pain of Christ’s Passion (his torture and crucifixion) that lies ahead.
Title
The Nativity
Date
about 1590
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 95.3 x W 118 cm
Accession number
NG3647
Acquisition method
Presented by Sir Henry Howorth through The Art Fund, in memory of Lady Howorth, 1922
Work type
Painting
