Nativity is the full account of the birth of Jesus. Augustus issued an edict ordering a census of the Empire. Everyone had to return to their home town. Joseph and Mary therefore returned to Bethlehem, native town of Joseph. There was no room at the inn and so the child was born in a stable (or cave). Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, was placed in a manger, where he was greeted by the shepherds and then by "the wise men from the east".
The feast of Nativity was celebrated in the west on 25 December from the middle of the IV century and in Constantinople from 379.
See: Albrecht Altdorfer The Nativity, The Nativity
Hans Baldung The Nativity.
Fra Bartolommeo Nativity.
Alessandro Botticelli Mystic Nativity.
François Boucher. The Nativity. The Nativity.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Numbering at Bethlehem.
Robert Campin Nativity.
Caravaggio Nativity with Saints Francis and Lawrence.
Petrus Christus The Nativity. The Annunciation and The Nativity.
Lucas Cranach the Elder The Birth of Christ.
Gerard David. The Nativity.
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maestà:The Birth of Christ.
Giotto. The Nativity. The Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds.
Matthias Grünewald. Nativity.
Jean Hey, Master of Moulin.The Nativity of Cardinal Jean Rolin.
Pietro Lorenzetti. The Nativity of the Virgin.
Lorenzo Lotto The Nativity.
Hans Memling Triptych: The Nativity, The Adoration of the Magi, The Presentation in the Temple.
Antoine Pesne. Birth of Christ.
Piero della Francesca. The Nativity.
Nicolas Poussin The Nativity.
Russian Icon. Nativity of Christ.
Martin Schongauer. Nativity and St. Anthony.
Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto. Nativity.
Rogier van der Weyden. Middelburg Altarpiece. Nativity.