Nativity

Artist Domenico Piola I (Italian (Genoese), 1627 - 1703)

Date1656

MediumBistre line and wash

DimensionsImage: 10 5/8 × 7 9/16 inches (26.99 × 19.21 cm)

Credit LineGift of Laurence Sickman

Object number63-8/1

On View

Not on view

Collections

European Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Occidental Graphics from the Collection of Laurence Sickman, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 13- October 18, 1992, no. 74.

Gallery Label

The story of Christ’s first night on Earth is among the most popular subjects in Christian art. This preparatory study for an etching depicts the sacred event in the ruins of a once-splendid palace. The decaying structure, with its cracked walls and toppled columns, symbolizes the end of the old order of the world. Its deteriorated condition underscores the youth of the newborn child and his promise of redemption.

Provenance

Given by Laurence Sickman (1907-1988), Kansas City, MO, to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1963.

Published References

Occidental Graphics from the Collection of Laurence Sickman, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 13- October 18, 1992, p. 11.

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