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The Nativity

Artist: Fra Bartolommeo (Baccio della Porta; Italian, 1472-1517)
Date: 1504–7
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 34 × 24.5 cm (13 3/8 × 9 5/8 in.); Framed: 52.7 × 35.6 cm (20 3/4 × 14 1/16 in.)
Made in: Italy
Style: Renaissance
Where to see it: Art Institute of Chicago

Ethel T. Scarborough Fund; John G. Searle Family Trust, L. L. and A. S. Coburn, Mr. and Mrs. Lester King, John and Josephine Louis, Samuel A. Marx, Alexander McKay, Chester D. Tripp, and Murray Vale endowment funds; purchased with funds provided by Marilynn Alsdorf, Anne Searle Bent, David and Celia Hilliard, Alexandra and John Nichols, Mrs. Harold T. Martin, Mrs. George B. Young in memory of her husband, and the Rhoades Foundation; gift of John Bross and members of the Old Masters Society in memory of Louise Smith Bross; through prior gift of the George F. Harding, Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson, and Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester collections · CC0 Public Domain · Art Institute of Chicago · image via Wikimedia Commons · see it at the museum ↗

Notes from the museum

To develop his own intimate style, Fra Bartolommeo looked to the most lyrical and harmonious paintings of his fellow artists working in Florence in the first years of the 16th century, including Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo , and Raphael . When the young artist came under the spell of the ardent Dominican reformer Girolamo Savonarola in 1500, he abandoned his artistic career for several years to join the order, becoming Fra (Friar) Bartolommeo. He made this work after his return to painting in 1504, investing it with a new spirituality.

Text: Art Institute of Chicago (open access). Our full story for this work is coming soon.

Slow Look

The whole picture Let your eyes wander. Where do they want to rest?
The light Find the brightest spot. What is it showing you?
The edges Look at what is half cut off at the borders.
One small detail Choose one tiny thing and stay with it for a while.
The whole picture again Step back. Has it changed for you?

About Fra Bartolommeo

Fra Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo, also known as Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Bartolommeo di San Marco, Bartolomeo di Paolo di Jacopo del Fattorino, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Italian Renaissance painter of religious subjects. He spent all his career in Florence until his mid-forties, when he travelled to work in various cities, as far south as Rome. He trained with Cosimo Rosselli and in the 1490s fell under the influence of Savonarola, which led him to become a Dominican friar in 1500, renouncing painting for several years. Typically his paintings are of static groups of fig

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