In this painting by Giotto Joachim and Anne are depicted meeting and embracing outside the golden gates of heaven. Joachim and Anne are the parents of the Virgin Mary. This painting is an example of Giotto's ability to bring his paintings to life. The image of the two saints embracing and kissing one another is realistic not only in their image but in their body carriage as well. How the two saints stand and hold each other is almost life like.
I chose this painting not only for the beautiful artwork , but because I have never seen a painting of saints showing affection in this form before. It stuck out to me immediately and I became intrigued by the story it told. To me not only are the two saints embracing in front of the golden gates of heaven, it appears to me that Saint Anne was already there and waiting for him. And this thought makes the painting even more beautiful to me.
Your artifact has amazing color; it's been restored. Some of the video footage in our documentary still had colorful fresco; but you can really see the color after restoration; that is the removal of candle smoke and years of prayer pollution!
ReplyDeleteWow, not only does this artifact show amazing colors like Dr.Wolbrick points out, but this is also quite extraordinary to see two saints being so affectionate. I wonder if you are right Ben, that Saint Anne was already there and waiting for him to entry the front golden gates of heaven. So does this mean that saints were allowed to have other love relationships with others besides god himself? As we read from the other saints, a lot of the women devoted themselves to God and became celibate...
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