Nativity

Abstract

The left nave of the Church of Santa Caterina opens up to a frescoed niche featuring Nuzzo Barba's creche scene. Some scholars have pointed to the rendering of the hands and late Gothic-style drapery to argue that the creche reflects an immature point early in Barba's career. When the work was completed in c.1475, Barba would have been between fifteen and twenty. The polychromy on the four remaining figures of the Virgin, Joseph, the ox and the ass has survived well. The original Baby Jesus, however, has been replaced by an unpainted plaster image. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.