Artwork

Copy after the painting The Nativity attributed to Jacobo Torriti in the Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi

Copy after the painting The Nativity attributed to Jacobo Torriti in the Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi is a watercolor work on paper by the Impressionist artist Edward Kaiser. It dates from 1875 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

About this work

Overview

In 1875 Edward Kaiser produced a watercolour reproduction of a Nativity scene originally attributed to Jacopo Torriti, which decorates the Upper Church of San Francesco in Assisi. The copy bears Kaiser’s ink signature and was commissioned by the Arundel Society, though it never appeared in any of the Society’s publications.

Subject & Meaning

The composition depicts the Virgin Mary seated on a cloud, clothed in a green mantle, surrounded by winged angels. Below her, a man—identified as Joseph—and a child, likely the infant Jesus, stand beside a flock of sheep, evoking the humble setting of the birth narrative.

Technique & Style

Kaiser’s rendition employs flat washes of gold, green, and blue, giving the image a luminous yet unmodulated surface. The figures are outlined rather than blended, reflecting a straightforward copying approach rather than an interpretive re‑imagining of Torriti’s original fresco.

History & Provenance

Created for the Arundel Society’s program of documenting medieval art, the watercolour remained unpublished and stayed within private collections. Its provenance traces back to the Society’s archives, where it was catalogued but not disseminated.

Context

The original Torriti Nativity, a fresco in Assisi’s Upper Church, exemplifies late‑13th‑century Italian devotional art. Kaiser’s copy aligns with 19th‑century scholarly efforts to record and preserve such works, especially those vulnerable to decay or limited public access.