The ''Nativity of the Virgin'' is a painting by the Italian

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter Francesco Albani and housed in the Sala VII di Santa Petronilla in the Capitoline Museum in Rome, Italy.

Description

The altarpiece was transferred from a mural to canvas in the 19th century. The Bolognese art historian Carlo Cesare Malvasia attributes a ''Nativity of the Virgin'' to Albani. It was originally painted for the Oratory of Santa Maria del Piombo in Bologna, and is documented there at least until 1598. Albani's contemporary

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious ...

also contributed works for the oratory. In 1797, the work was taken to France, and returned only in 1815, and was placed in this museum in 1818. The canvas depicts the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus. This event was commonly depicted in scenes of Marian veneration. While the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception would not be explicitly stated until 1854, even from late antiquity, Christian theologians such as Ambrose and Augustine, had invoked the exceptional birth of Mary, wherein she alone among women had been born free of

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...

.Catholic encyclopedia
article on ''Immaculate Conception''. Hence, while saints on their transit to glory, or posthumously after their entrance to glory, could be accompanied by angels; Mary, uniquely among women, could merit an angelic choir at birth. Mary is typically depicted in a well-to-do household.

References

1598 paintings Paintings by Francesco Albani Paintings in the Capitoline Museums Albani {{Italy-art-stub