The Nativity with Midwife

Circa 1080
Detail from a fragment of altar screen originally in the Church of St. Domenica, Zadar
Archeological Museum of Zadar

At the top left is the Star of Bethlehem, below which are the now faint outlines of the ox, ass, and manger with child. The figure of the recumbent Virgin Mary traverses the two halves, and below her are an angel on the left and a midwife on the right washing the baby in a vessel shaped like a round baptismal font.

See below for the altar-screen fragment itself, with the three shepherds and the Magi.

Read more about images of the Nativity


The altar-screen fragment. To view this photograph in full resolution follow this link.

Photographs taken at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.