Scènes de la Vie du Christ : Nativité.

The Nativity panel from Mariotto di Nardo's cycle of Christ's life at the Musée du Petit Palais shows the birth at Bethlehem in the format standard for Florentine painting around 1400: Mary and Joseph kneeling in adoration before the infant, the ox and ass present, angels descending in wonder. Di Nardo works squarely within the tradition of his Florentine predecessors, absorbing the influence of the Orcagna workshop without the more radical spatial experiments of his contemporary Masaccio. The cycle to which this panel belongs was likely made for Florentine institutional use before being acquired by Avignon collectors.

Tempera and gold leaf on panel. The stable is rendered as a schematic architectural shorthand — pitched roof and timber posts — framing the figures without pretending to structural logic. Figures kneel in approximate symmetry around the central recumbent infant.