Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

ca. 1406–10

The Nativity

Lorenzo Monaco (Piero di Giovanni) Italian

 On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 952

Lorenzo Monaco, the leading painter in Florence in the early fifteenth century, was active as a painter of illuminated manuscripts, frescoes and panel paintings. A major proponent of the International Gothic style, his style is characterized by luminous color and graceful, rhythmic, flowing lines. In this exquisite depiction of the Nativity, the compositional elements are brilliantly adapted to the quatrefoil field, and the rich and subtle color harmonies reflect the artist's skill as a manuscript painter. Particularly striking is the nocturnal setting, which is suffused by the supernatural light emanating from the Christ Child and the angel. This panel formed part of a predella, which also included a Visitation, an Adoration of the Magi, and a Flight into Egypt believed to have come from an altarpiece of the Annunciation by Lorenzo Monaco (Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence).