Giotto: The Meeting at the Golden Gate

September 8^th marks the birthday of Mary, a day Catholics use to remember and her parents, Sts. Joachim and Anne. According to tradition, Anne was barren well into old age before Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Giotto’s fresco shows the saints meeting for the first time after hearing the good news while separated.

While the piece’s Byzantine style is a far cry from the realism of the Renaissance, which followed soon after, several details make the fresco memorable nonetheless. The saints stand off-center, while two women share the middle of the fresco. One, robed in white with hair uncovered, eagerly follows St. Anne out of the gate carrying a white baby’s blanket edged in gold. Her counterpart, swathed in black and hiding her face, lingers grimly by the gate. The artist’s intention is unclear, but the saints themselves stand radiant and unafraid.