Provenance: Count Mastiani, Florence.[1] Charles Fairfax Murray [1849-1919], London and Florence. Andrea di Robilant, Venice;[2] (his sale, Galleria Bellini, Florence, 22-27 May 1933, no. 30, as by Andrea Verrochio); probably purchased by (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); purchased July 1934 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] The invoice from Contini Bonacossi to the Kress Foundation, dated 13 July 1934, includes five paintings on panel and one terracotta, which is identified as _Nativity_ by Andrea Verrocchio, formerly in the collection of Count Mastiani, Florence (copy in NGA curatorial files). A typed label tacked to the reverse of the wood frame around the sculpture includes the information "Formerly in Coll. of Count Mastiani Florence."
[2] Provenance according to Ulrich Middeldorf, _Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century_, London, 1976: 41; Fairfax Murray's ownership is documented by a photograph in the Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence.