La Nativité de saint Jean Baptiste

Andrea di Nerio was an Aretine painter active in the mid-fourteenth century, the father of the more famous Spinello Aretino, who continued and expanded his father's workshop. This Nativity of Saint John the Baptist depicts the birth of the Precursor, a joyful scene that became one of the most popular narrative subjects in Italian Gothic art. The panel likely formed part of a cycle dedicated to the Baptist, whose cult was particularly strong in Florence and across Tuscany, where many churches bore his name.

Executed in egg tempera on gold-ground panel, the work depicts the interior birth scene with the characteristic narrative clarity of Trecento painting. Andrea di Nerio's style reflects the provincial Aretine school's synthesis of Florentine and Sienese influences, with warm coloring and careful attention to domestic detail in the birth chamber.