The Nativity
c. 1425
Fra Angelico, a Dominican friar who was later beatified as a saint, paints the Nativity with a tender simplicity that feels almost like a prayer. Mary, draped in deep red, and Joseph, in rich purple, kneel in awe before the infant Jesus, who lies on the cold ground radiating brilliant golden rays of light. Behind them, a humble ox and donkey peer out from the shadows of a rustic stable, witnessing the scene. This early Renaissance masterpiece captures the divine not through grandeur, but through gentle, glowing devotion.