The Nativity (Piero della Francesca)

[3] The painting was made for the artist's family palace in his home town, originally thought to be an altarpiece for a private chapel, but now understood to have been hung in the bedchamber.

The dilapidated stable is painted at an awkwardly skewed angle on a rocky hilltop, perhaps intended to reflect the precarious circumstances of Jesus's birth.

To the right, Joseph is sitting with crossed legs on a donkey's saddle placed on the ground, in a pose recalling the Hellenistic Spinario bronze sculpture, prominently revealing the sole of his right foot to the viewer.

The Holy Family are being serenaded by a group of five angels, standing like classical sculptures in long gowns to the left, two playing lutes and two others with open mouths as if singing.

[4] The pink clothes worn by Joseph were very thinly painted, underdrawing showed through the damaged shepherds' faces, and the braying ass in the stable was so translucent that the stones of the wall behind could be seen through its leg.