The Nativity
Fra Bartolommeo (Baccio della Porta; Italian, 1472-1517)
1504–7
View the original$16
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
To develop his own intimate style, Fra Bartolommeo looked to the most lyrical and harmonious paintings of his fellow artists working in Florence in the first years of the 16th century, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. When the young artist came under the spell of the ardent Dominican reformer Girolamo Savonarola in 1500, he abandoned his artistic career for several years to join the order, becoming Fra (Friar) Bartolommeo. He made this work after his return to painting in 1504, investing it with a new spirituality.
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Original size
- 34 × 24.5 cm (13 3/8 × 9 5/8 in.)
Museum record · 3 owners · 3 exhibitions
Provenance
- Sold through the Monastery of San Marco, Florence, to Domenico Perini, April 16, 1507; sent by Domenico Perini to France and possibly sold to Louis XII, King of France, along with a Noli me tangere now in the Louvre, according to a list of all Fra Bartolommeo’s pictures compiled in 1516.
- Bedemeau de Buxerolles, Poitou.
- Tabarly collection, Blois, Pierre Landry, Paris, by 1955; his heirs, sold, Christie’s, London, 11 July 2001 to Haboldt and Company, Paris; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2005.
Exhibitions
- Paris, Galeries nationales, Grand Palais, France 1500: Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance, Oct. 5, 2010–Jan. 10, 2011.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Art in Early Renaissance France, Feb. 26–May 30, 2011.
- Rotterdam, Museum Boijamns Van Beuningen, Fra Bartolommeo: The Divine Renaissance, Oct. 15 2016- Jan. 15, 2017.
