The Nativity

The Nativity presents the new-born Christ in the stable at Bethlehem, the elongated predella panel giving the sacred event the air of a frieze set against a rugged landscape. Fra Filippo Lippi, the Carmelite friar-painter who became one of Florence’s most beloved masters, fills the scene with a tender, human warmth that distinguishes his religious imagery from the severity of his contemporaries. Painted probably about 1445, in the middle of Lippi’s most inventive period, the panel shares the lyrical grace that later thrilled Botticelli, his most celebrated pupil.