Italian school; 17th century.

Italian school; XVII century.
"Nativity".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 48,5 x 34 cm; 58,5 x 39 cm (frame).
The painting shows an interior illuminated in a theatrical way the moment of the Nativity is represented. The white of the mantle that wraps the figure of the Child, becomes the only point of light of the scene, to which is added slightly the treatment of the skin of the face of Mary, who, unlike the other characters, presents a greater clarity. Located in the center of the scene, the work is completed with the presence of Joseph, placed as usual in these representations, behind the Virgin and Child, while on the opposite side a group of shepherds approaches to adore the King of the Jews.
In the absence of details concerning the Birth of the Virgin in the Bible, art has turned to the Apocryphal Gospels for inspiration. The Protoevangelium of James provides the names of her parents (Joachim and Anna), and tells that she, barren, withdrew to fast in the desert for 40 days, and an angel appears to her, who then communicates the news to her husband. Similar accounts are found in other texts: the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy, etc.
It should be noted that, in order to prevent the theme from being confused with another birth (such as that of St. John the Baptist), this scene usually appeared as part of a cycle in most cases, accompanied by other themes that would clarify without a doubt the identity of the protagonist of the work. Although this theatrical use of light could be associated with the Italian baroque tenebrist current, the influence of the latter is discarded when appreciating another series of elements that show the relationship of the painting with the Italian classicist baroque of the Carracci. The coloring, lively, does not present violent hallmarks of illuminated areas with others in darkness, within the naturalism of the figures it is also clear the idealization of the same, the corporeality of the figures and their classicist anatomy, the attention to the gestures that create a dialogue and direct the viewer's gaze through the work, the compositions with diagonals in which the horizontality is the main feature, etc.