Joachim and Anna at the golden gate

This panel tells the story of how the Virgin Mary came to be born. Her parents, Joachim and Anna, were an elderly couple who had long been childless, which at the time was taken as a disgrace. According to the legend, each was visited separately by an angel with the news that they would finally have a child, and they hurried to meet at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. Witz shows the moment they come together and embrace at the gate. For medieval viewers that embrace stood for the conception of Mary herself, the very beginning of the events the whole altarpiece was built to celebrate. Witz gives the old couple real bodies and worn faces, two aging people meeting with relief. The gate behind them is a solid block of architecture, built with the same weight he gave to the figures.