All Signs Point to Nativity

The New-born, c. 1640 by Georges de la Tour, Musee des Beaux Arts, Rennes.

Often artists would mask religious scenes by setting them in the present and leaving out all of the traditional "signs" of a religious nativity scene such as a halo on the mother and child, but the calm the beauty and the presence of a figure who could be perceived as St. Anne, seem to indicate a religious meaning.