PROVENANCE: Baron Raoul Kuffner, Castle Dioszegh, Hungary (until 1918, now in Czechoslovakia); Sale, Parke-Bernet, November 18, 1948, lot 31, p. 20; Julius Weitzner, 1952; BJU, 1952.

This unknown Florentine artist's most representative work is in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, hence his designation as the Master of the Borghese Tondo. In typical Renaissance style, several aspects of the Christmas story are illustrated in one painting: the angelic pronouncement to the shepherds, the approaching wise men, Herod's soldiers in Bethlehem, and the main scene in a loosely structured stable.

The banderole held by the angels reads, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" and is an actual, playable example of Renaissance music.