The Meeting of Joachim and Anne outside the Golden Gate of Jerusalem (1497) by Filippino Lippi (c.1457-1504)
The Florentine artist Filippino Lippi, exhibits the influence of two incomparable masters of the early Renaissance: his father and first teacher Filippo Lippi and Botticelli, with whom the young Filippino worked and studied. This painting signed by the artist in gold letters at the base of the Golden Gate at left takes as its subject the miraculous event of Mary’s conception. The Gospels remain silent about Mary’s birth and early years, never the less many writings dating to the first centuries after Christ’s birth filled the gap with detailed accounts of the miracles that supposedly accompanied their lives. This ancient tradition speaks of Mary’s mother Anna and her father Joachim as a devout couple, whose longing for children had not been satisfied. Despite both parents advanced age an angel tells each of them separately that their wish will be granted. Bearing the good news each of them must go to meet the other at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem. Their joyful embrace is the moment Lippi depicts. Lippi deploys colour, gesture and costume to render this dramatic event. We note Joachim’s white beard and Anna’s modestly covered head, both visual details convey the advanced age of the couple. In a daring move Lippi emphasises the moment of union by deploying the same brilliant blue to describe the voluminous cloaks worn by both figures. Blue the symbol of the heavenly realm thus symbolises Anna and Joachim’s physical and spiritual union. It is against the stunning blue of the figures cloaks that the expressive gesture of their touching hands projects. On either side of Anna and Joachim, figures focus on the remarkable scene unfolding in front of them. At the left the elaborately dressed young women (traditionally identified as Anna’s companions) direct our attention to the couple. On the right we recognise John the Baptist clad in his traditional costume of animal skin. He too is absorbed in the miracle taking place before him. Though the narrative does not call for the presence of the Baptist, it is possible his inclusion might allude to the similar circumstances of his conception. As we read in Luke’s Gospel, John’s parents Elizabeth and Zachariah had also longed for a child.
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