Giotto - Scrovegni - -06- - Meeting at the Golden Gate

Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate is a narrative of the parents of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, Joachim and

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

meeting at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, upon learning that she will bear a child. It is not in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

, but is in the

Protoevangelium of James The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, a ...

and other apocryphal accounts; the narrative was tolerated by the church. It features in

Jacobus de Voragine Jacobus de Voragine (c. 123013/16 July 1298) was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author, or more accurately the compiler, of the '' Golden Legend'', a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medi ...

's ''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

'' (c.1260) and other popular accounts. The story is a popular subject in cycles of the

Life of the Virgin The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the ...

in art.

Story

Benedictus Chelidonius' work describes the story of the married couple Joachim and Anne, who, though they are devoted to each other, are deeply unhappy as they are childless, which they take as a sign that they must have been rejected by God. An angel informs

of her conception, while at the same time asking her to meet her husband at the city gate in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. On meeting, the couple entwine in joy. According to Chelidonius: "Overjoyed Anne threw herself into the arms of her husband; together they rejoiced about the honour that was to be granted them in the form of a child. For they knew from the heavenly messenger that the child would be a Queen, powerful on heaven and on earth". In traditional depictions of the occasion, the pair embrace, but don't kiss.

Theological implications

This scene represented the conception of Mary, and is an early scene in the many cycles of the ''

'', the counterpart of the Annunciation showing the conception of Jesus. To some medieval viewers, the kiss was a literal representation of the moment of Mary's conception, while for others it was a symbolic representation. The main figures may be accompanied, usually Anne with women and Joachim with shepherds. The

Archangel Gabriel In Abrahamic religions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ ...

, always shown in ''Annunciations'', may appear here also. Sometimes other saints are included. The 14th and 15th centuries were the heyday of depictions. In a 1410 French Mass book, Anne and Joachim are depicted in front of a castlelike structure representing the Golden Gate. The image precedes the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

for the

Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

. Gradually more allegorical depictions of the Immaculate Conception, featuring an adult Mary, replace this scene in representing the doctrine. The church had developed the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was, uniquely, conceived without original sin; this is known as the doctrine of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

(which refers to the conception of Mary, not that of Jesus). In the Middle Ages the doctrine remained controversial, opposed by St

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

and his

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

, but supported by

Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...

and his Franciscan Order. Aquinas in the '' Summa Theologiae'' affirmed that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived by an union of flesh of her parents and therefore incurred in the original sin, but that it was cleansed before her birth. The Immaculate Conception was defined as dogma in 1854, by Pope Pius IX.Hall, 326 File:Znamenie oborot.jpg, Russian icon, perhaps before 1169 File:Master of the Golden Gate - The Meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate - Google Art Project.jpg, Master of the Golden Gate, late 14th century Accademia - Incontro di Gioacchino e Anna con san Luigi IX e santa Libera - Carpaccio.jpg,

Carpaccio Carpaccio (, , ) is a dish of meat or fish (such as beef, veal, venison, salmon or tuna), thinly sliced or pounded thin, and served raw, typically as an appetizer. It was invented in 1963 by Giuseppe Cipriani from Harry's Bar in Venice, Ital ...

, with Saint

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

and Saint Liberata. File:Joakim og Annas gensyn uden for Jerusalems Gyldne Port.jpg,

Filippino Lippi Filippino Lippi (April 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian painter working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. Biography Filippino Lippi was born in Prato, Tusc ...

, 1497 File:Durer, vita della vergine 03.jpg,

Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate (Dürer) ''Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate'' is a 1504 woodcut by the German artist Albrecht Dürer that depicts the standard scene of Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate. In the woodcut, the parents of the Virgin Mary, Joachim, and A ...

, 1504 File:Eugenio Cajés - El abrazo en la Puerta Dorada - Google Art Project.jpg,

Eugenio Cajés Eugenio is an Italian and Spanish masculine given name deriving from the Greek ' Eugene'. The name is Eugénio in Portuguese and Eugênio in Brazilian Portuguese. The name's translated literal meaning is well born, or of noble status. Similar d ...

, 1605; by now the scene was becoming less frequent

References

Sources

* Hall, James, ''Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art'', 1996 (2nd edn.), John Murray, {{ISBN, 0719541476 * Kurth, Dr. Willi. ''The complete woodcuts of Albrecht Durer''. New York: Arden Book Co, 1935. * Nurnberg, Verlag Hans Carl. ''Dürer in Dublin: Engravings and woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer''. Chester Beatty Libraery, 1983. * Strauss, Walter L. "Albrecht Durer Woodcuts and Woodblocks". ''The Burlington Magazine'', Vol. 124, No. 955, October, 1982. pp. 638–639. Virgin Mary in art Christian iconography