This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileJoseph leads a donkey carrying Mary and the infant Jesus along a winding dirt path. A large, shaggy-fronded palm tree stands prominently in the foreground beside a rocky outcrop, while a Mediterranean-style town with a church and a long staircase is visible in the distance. The sky is filled with heavy, atmospheric clouds that suggest the artist's interest in natural phenomena.
Piero di Cosimo was a key figure in Renaissance Florence, known for an eccentric and idiosyncratic style that often diverged from traditional iconography. The prominence of the palm tree refers to the 'Miracle of the Date Palm' from the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, a text that provided many of the narrative details for Renaissance depictions of Christ's early life.
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
The inclusion of the palm tree depicts the apocryphal miracle where a tree bowed down to provide fruit to the Virgin Mary during the flight to Egypt.
Marsilio Ficino
Piero di Cosimo was active in the Florentine intellectual circle of Ficino, where his 'primitive' and naturalistic style was seen as a visual exploration of early human history and natural philosophy.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
c. 1505
Public domain
2024 × 2480 px
4f32c07138b9157d42a97ed15eb8ee7d7fe71856
May 20, 2005
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on March 31, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.