English: Nativity, from Altarpiece of the Virgin (St Vaast Altarpiece).
"The present Adoration of the Christ Child is notably dependent on a panel of the same subject by Campin now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon, both with regard to the figures and the overall composition. The subject is taken from the Apocryphal Gospels of the Nativity, in particular from the Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew. This text recounts how Joseph went in search of the two midwives to assist the Virgin but by the time they arrived she had already given birth. The midwives entered the cave where the birth had taken place. The first to enter was Zelomi who acknowledged the virginity of Mary, followed by Salome, who doubted the miracle and attempted to verify it for herself. As a punishment, her hands were paralysed. Daret depicts the moment when Salome reaches out to touch the Christ Child, who cured her according to the apocryphal text. The Adoration of the Christ Child was commissioned by Abbot Jean du Clercq for an altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin in his funerary chapel in the abbey of St. Vaast in Arras." [1]