Stock Photo - Cretan: Nativity of Christ, Unidentified artist, Cretan, 15th century, Oil (and tempera?) with gold leaf on panel, This gold-ground panel was painted in Crete, a Greek island that was once part of the Byzantine Empire and a center of Orthodox Christianity. The scene depicts the joyous scene following the birth of Christ. The Christ child lies in a manger, looked over by an ox and a donkey; the Virgin Mary appears on the right, kneeling in veneration. To the left, a crowd of smiling angels hover with arms outstretched and hands covered, evoking the clergy handling consecrated bread and wine. Toward the bottom left, the three Magi, wearing gold crowns, approach with gifts. In the foreground we see Joseph, who sits, thinking, in the company of two standing figures: a shepherd and an older man in a dark fur coat who tried and failed to sow seeds of doubt regarding Christ's miraculous birth. The setting and figures derived from a Nativity fresco of ca. 1370-80 in the Peribleptos Church in Mystras, Greece., Overall: 17 3/8 x 13 1/4 in. (44.1 x 33.7 cm)