The Nativity (Gerard David)
early 1480s · Oil on wood · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The whole painting, uncropped, on a printed cream mat with its title beneath.
Museum-quality archival paper: heavyweight, acid-free, resists yellowing
- Printed to order, arrives in 4–9 business days
- Arrives perfect or we reprint it, free
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About this work
- Artist
- Gerard David (c. 1460–1523)
- Year
- early 1480s
- Medium
- Oil on wood
- Original size
- 47.6 × 34.3 cm
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
The Christ Child lies on the hem of Mary's blue mantle on a bare stone floor, inside a ruined building of brick arches. Mary kneels on the right, Joseph kneels in a red robe on the left, and two small angels in white pray between them. Two shepherds lean over a low wall to look in, a third stands in an archway with his staff, and a donkey and an ox wait at the right. Through the arches, a green hillside rises to a town with church towers. Gerard David, a Netherlandish painter born in Oudewater, made this small panel in the early 1480s. In 1484 he joined the painters' guild in Bruges, where he worked for the rest of his life. The panel came to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1931, with the bequest of Michael Friedsam.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Deep blue and red robes on a pale stone floor, with green hills and a soft blue sky through the arches. For a hallway, dining room or study through the holiday season, beside Van Eyck's The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin; a dark wood frame suits it.
Size, framing & materials
- Style
- Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 15th century (early 1480s)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- dining room, hallway or entryway, study or library, living room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway. See it to scale on your wall →
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; dark wood warms it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
- Restored in-house from the original painting, cleaned and colour-trued at museum resolution
- Museum-quality archival paper: heavyweight, acid-free, resists yellowing
- Framed option: wood frame in black or dark wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size
- Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen
