GIOTTO di Bondone
(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

No. 7 Scenes from the Life of the Virgin: 1. The Birth of the Virgin (detail)

1304-06
Fresco
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

The birth of the Virgin takes place in the same house as the annunciation to Anne. In the small room, somewhat too narrow for the figures, Anne sits up in bed and is handed the baby in its swaddling clothes by a nursemaid. The child appears for a second time in the idyllic scene in front of the mother's bed.