Nativity of the Rabbits

This is a youthful work by the artist which reflects his Mantegnesque education, although the treatment of the figures is more familiar and natural than that of his famous predecessor. The composition is given a very high horizon line with a deep and detailed landscape background, but everything gravitates around the Child stretched out on the blue folds of his mother’s mantle and twisting his body to look at the rabbits in the foreground. Especially noteworthy is the almost scientific precision with which the artist has rendered the plant forms – from the humble plantain at lower left to the ferns on the rocks and the pomegranate tree with its colorful red fruit behind. The composition includes saints John the Baptist and Jerome.