DOSSI, Battista
(b. ca. 1490, Ferrara, d. 1548, Ferrara)

Nativity

c. 1520
Oil on panel, 52 x 34 cm
Residenzgalerie, Salzburg

This small-scale altar panel was intended for private devotion. It is characterised by simple composition, by the symmetrical arrangement of the protagonists and by figures in accordance with the classical ideal. At the centre, the Christ child lies on a cloth, with Mary and Joseph on his right and two shepherds on his left. God the Father hovers above this adoration scene in a cloud of light.