Skip to main content
Home Home Columbia Museum of Art Columbia Museum of Art logo
  • Join
  • Give
Home Home
  • Join
  • Give

Main navigation

  • Visit
    • About the CMA
      • Art and Inclusion
      • Governance and Leadership
      • Work at the CMA
      • Policies
        • Code of Conduct
        • Social Media Code of Conduct
    • Accessibility
    • Boyd Plaza
    • The Cross Hatch
    • Directions and Parking
    • Tours
    • Visit Columbia
    • Binder Storytelling
  • Events
    • Art Blossoms
    • Arts & Draughts
    • Baker & Baker Series
    • CMA Chamber Music on Main
    • Jazz at the CMA
    • Literary Programs
    • More Than Rhythm: A Black Music Series
    • Columbia Design League
    • Contemporaries
    • Friends of African American Art & Culture
  • View
    • The Collection
    • Forward Together
    • Our Own Work, Our Own Way
    • Reverent Ornament
    • Bullets and Bandaids
    • Constantine Manos
    • Art Blossoms
    • Art of the Catawba Nation since 1973
    • Tina Williams Brewer: Stories of Grace
    • Lee Alexander McQueen & Ann Ray: Rendez-Vous
    • Past Exhibitions
    • All Exhibitions
  • Learn
    • Adults
    • Educators
      • Virtual Field Trips
      • Field Trips
      • Lesson Plans and Resources
      • Continuing Education
    • Summer Camps
    • Youth and Families
  • Belong
    • Affinity Groups
      • Columbia Design League
        • CDL Board Members
        • Play With Your City 2019
      • Contemporaries
        • Contemporaries Board Members
      • Friends of African American Art & Culture
        • FAAAC Board Members
    • Give
    • Join or Renew
      • Member FAQs
      • Corporate Memberships
      • Premier Memberships
    • Partner With Us
    • Sponsor
    • Volunteer
  • Rent
    • Host an Event
    • Plan a Wedding

Secondary Navigation

  • About the CMA
  • Hours & Admission
  • News
    • Press Requests
  • Contact
  • Staff Directory
  • CMA Employees Login
See Collection
Highlights

The Nativity

Sandro Botticelli

Italian (Florentine), 1444-1510
c. 1473-1475
Fresco transferred to canvas
Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Sandro Botticelli is arguably the most renowned Renaissance master of the 15th century. The Nativity is not only the sole Botticelli fresco in the United States, but the only one exhibited outside of Italy. The work may have originally been displayed outside at an open-air tabernacle in Florence. In 2015, The Nativity travelled for the first time since its acquisition by the CMA as a loan to the Bunkamura Museum of Art in Tokyo, Japan. The Bunkamura gifted a new, custom-made frame. The Nativity is now reinstalled at the CMA in a period-appropriate frame that suits the majesty of Botticelli’s composition. Not only is Botticelli’s use of perspective strikingly neat and symmetrical in The Nativity, but there is symbolism to be found upon a closer look at the fresco. For example, the Christ Child is propped up on rolls of wheat. This both alludes to the town of Bethlehem’s meaning “town of bread” and to Christ’s body as part of the Christian ceremony of the Eucharist (communion). 

Home
  • CMA Facebook
  • CMA YouTube
  • CMA Instagram
  • National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
  • American Alliance of Museums Accredited Museum
  • South Carolina Just Right

Hours

Sunday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Monday
Closed.
Tuesday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Wednesday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Thursday
10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Contact

Visit
1515 Main Street,
Columbia, SC 29201
Call
(803) 799-2810
Email
info@columbiamuseum.org
Write
P.O. Box 2068,
Columbia, SC 29202

Newsletter

Get updates about everything happening at the museum

Footer Newsletter Signup

© Copyright 2023 The Columbia Museum of Art

Website by Cyberwoven

Footer

  • Test 1