Nativity (Masaccio)

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Nativity

Masaccio, 1427-1428

Tempera on wood

56 (diameter) × cm

Staatliche Museen

The Nativity (also known as the Berlin Tondo) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Masaccio, c. 1427-1428.

This round plate with a Nativity on the front and a Putto and small dog on the back dates from Masaccio's last period in Florence, before he went to Rome. It was defined by experts as the first Renaissance tondo, and they drew attention to the important innovations and the correct architectural perspective reflecting a greater knowledge and affirmation of the classicism of Brunelleschi. Here the Florentine idiom is evident in the colour sequences of the geometrical patterns on the walls of the building and in the court. This is in perfect harmony, and was to appear again in the stories of Fra Angelico and the architecture of Michelozzo in San Marco.