The Meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate

In the 1480s Franciscan and Dominican preachers argued so fiercely over whether Mary was conceived free of original sin that in 1483 Pope Sixtus IV forbade either side to call the other heretics. This panel, painted in Styria around 1490 to 1495, shows the scene long taken to stand for her conception. In a legend first written down in the 2nd century, Joachim's offering was refused at the Temple because he and Anne were childless, and he went off to his flocks. At the right he sits among his sheep in a broad hat, looking up at the angel who sent him home. In front he has reached Anne at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, and they hold each other by the arms. On the gatehouse wall a small golden Eve reaches into a tree, the serpent wound round its trunk.