RELIEF OF THE NATIVITY-ADORATION

This relief is dedicated to the Birth of Jesus Christ, whose figure - which is missing - originally used to be located at the centre of the relief in a small crib. The figure of the Holy Infant used to lay between the figures of the Holy Virgin and St. Joseph, who stand to His left and right, respectively. Both of them are kneeling and worshipping the Holy Infant.

In the background, two shepherds are contemplating the scene from behind wooden fences that converge to the rear and meet a low stone wall. The heads of an ox and a donkey are seen looking through two openings in the wall of a modest barn or stable topped with a gabled roof.  The roof leads our eyes to the rocky landscape in which the odd sheep is scattered. Another figure used to stand at the bottom of the scene - unfortunately, this too has since disappeared. The missing figure probably made reference to the episode related to the Announcement to the Shepherds of the Birth of the Holy Infant. As suggested by S. Llonch, the reported similarities between the reliefs on the Coligny altarpiece in the Louvre Museum and those in the Belgian church of St. Matthew in Hulshout refer to a common model manufactured in Antwerp workshops at the beginning of the XVI century, from where this particular work is purported to come.