Sevillian school; 17th century. "Nativity". Oil on canvas. It presents added period cloth in the upper margin. Measurements: 106,5 x 166,5 cm; 136 x 195,5 cm (frame). The canvas offers us a dynamic and multitudinous Nativity. In the centre of the composition is the Virgin, of youthful and delicate aspect, dressed with pink tunic and mantle. The Virgin holds the Child in her hands, whose head is surrounded by a luminous nimbus. A large number of figures are clustered around her. A surprised Saint Joseph holds out his hands to the Child. The scene is completed by the presence of a multitude of winged angels. The upper part of the composition is devoted to the angelic world. Putti and young angels appear amidst wide cloud breaks, witnessing the scene taking place below. The type of composition, as well as the dramatic lighting, with its marked chiaroscuro, is in keeping with the Andalusian school of the first half of the 18th century. The 17th century saw the arrival of the Baroque in the Sevillian school, with the triumph of naturalism over Mannerist idealism, a loose style and many other aesthetic liberties. At this time the school reached its greatest splendour, both in terms of the quality of its works and the primordial status of Sevillian Baroque painting. Thus, during the transition to the Baroque period, we find Juan del Castillo, Antonio Mohedano and Francisco Herrera el Viejo, whose works already display the rapid brushstrokes and crude realism of the style, and Juan de Roelas, who introduced Venetian colourism. The middle of the century saw the fullness of the period, with figures such as Zurbarán, a young Alonso Cano and Velázquez. Finally, in the last third of the century we find Murillo and Valdés Leal, founders in 1660 of an Academy where many of the painters active during the first quarter of the 18th century were trained, such as Meneses Osorio, Sebastián Gómez, Lucas Valdés and others.