Nativity scenes attributed to Zanobi Strozzi

Two small paintings in London and New York are believed to come from the same predella, and are attributed to Zanobi Strozzi, a Florentine painter who was probably a pupil of Fra Angelico.

[1] Various suggestions have been made as to the authorship of the panels, and the polyptych altarpiece of which the predella formed the lowest part.

[2] The most likely solution is that the altarpiece had as its main panel a Virgin and Child now in the Hermitage Museum, and side panels of saints, namely: "on the left, Saints Nicholas, Lawrence, and John the Baptist (Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York), and, on the right, Saints Zenobius, Francis, and Anthony of Padua (Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven).

Both John the Baptist and Zenobius were patron saints of Florence, where according to tradition Zenobius had been the first bishop, and Saints Francis and Anthony were Franciscans, suggesting that the altarpiece was made for a Franciscan church in the city.

Saint Joseph holds the gift of the eldest king, who kneels before the baby Jesus.