This Nativity places the newborn Christ at the centre of an intimate scene of adoration. The Virgin, dressed in white with her hair loose, kneels before the radiant Child, accompanied by Saint Joseph and two angels. Two shepherds approach, one carrying a lamb across his shoulders, while the ox and donkey appear beneath ruined classical architecture. The composition follows a devotional tradition associated with the visions of Saint Bridget of Sweden and widely developed in Netherlandish painting.

José Gómez Frechina situates the work in Burgos around 1520 and identifies it as the companion to The Tree of Jesse, also painted on sarga and of the same dimensions. Shared facial types, the treatment of the white-robed Virgin and the black contours defining the figures support their attribution to the same anonymous painter.

The tempera technique and textile support belong to the Spanish tradition of sarga painting, related to Netherlandish Tüchlein. The study draws attention to the survival of the unvarnished surface and original colouring, qualities of particular significance in a fragile medium of which relatively few early examples remain.

Study
José Gómez Frechina, Nativity of Jesus, Studies XXXII, Gonzalo Eguiguren Gallery.
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