Title
The Nativity of ChristDatec.1600
MediumTempera on panel
Dimensions
30.5 x 26 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1968
Object numberNGI.1842
Label TextThis icon depicts a variety of events from Christ’s birth, which is shown as having taken place in a cave. An angel holds a comet, as a pair of angels guide the Three Kings, and two other figures summon the shepherds. The Virgin is seated on a red throne and Christ lies in a cot of a recognisably Moscow type. Below, Joseph is tempted by the Devil, a figure wearing a seventeenth-century coat and boots. Two midwives are also shown washing Christ; these were added to the story as an embellishment in the Middle Ages.