Follower of Sodoma, 'The Nativity with the Infant Baptist and Shepherds', probably about 1540-60

The Virgin Mary kneels in prayer before the newborn Christ, who radiates heavenly light. Saint Joseph seems to look at her sadly as he holds back the infant Saint John the Baptist, who is trying to step towards his baby cousin. Little Saint John holds a cross made from a split stick with another stick resting in the cleft – a symbol of Christ’s destiny. It is unusual to find the infant John the Baptist included in an image of the Nativity.

Two shepherds arrive on the left looking for the newborn Messiah. One of them raises his hand to his eyes as though still searching, the other carries a lamb on his shoulder as a gift to the newborn king. The lamb recalls Christ’s identity as the ‘lamb of God’ who will be sacrificed for the salvation of humanity.

In the right background we see an earlier moment, when the angel appeared to the shepherds in the sky to tell them about Christ’s birth. Three angels in the golden heavens hold a long fluttering scroll. The ox and the donkey behind the holy family in the foreground can also be seen grazing in the distant fields. This technique, where the same figures are represented at different times in the same picture, is called a continuous narrative, as more than one part of the story is told.

In the centre background, the Three Kings are guided by a star to Bethlehem to honour Christ. We see the procession crossing a crenellated bridge over a river. In the far distance, the hazy mountaintop town has been brushed in with dynamic strokes of pale blue and white. The landscape with its sweeping vista and incidental details is the most accomplished and appealing part of the painting.

This picture was probably not painted by Sodoma or his workshop but is more likely to have been by an artist copying various elements from Sodoma’s pictures. Some of the elements may have been copied from his Adoration of the Magi in S. Agostino, Siena. The National Gallery’s painting is damaged by splits and cracking in many places. The predominance of brown in the landscape suggests that parts of it may originally have been painted in a green pigment which has faded over time, changing the overall colour balance in the painting.