Nativity (Campin)

Nativity is a panel painting of c. 1420 by the Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, France.

Harshly realistic, the Child Jesus and his parents are shown in poverty, the figures crowded in a small structure, with broken-down walls, and a thatched roof with a hole, the single space shared with animals.

From the little record of Campin, he was a significant pioneer and innovator of painting, and here his appeal is to the poverty of the Holy Family.

[2] The hut is slanted compared to the outline of the frame, a device later adopted by Rogier van der Weyden in his Bladelin Altarpiece.

Reinforcing the idea of redemption, Salome is given a prominent position, facing outwards towards the viewer in the mid foreground.