Saint Joachim, Saint Anne and Our Lady
Author: Unknown
Date: 18th century
Material: Polychromed gesso on wood
Dimensions (cm): H 46,5 x W 30 x D 21
Provenance: Guimarães, Comissão de Melhoramentos da Penha
Owner: Guimarães, Câmara Municipal de Guimarães
Inventory No.: MAS ED 3
This sculptural group represents Saint Anne who, sitting on a richly decorated chair, is teaching Mary how to read using a book that rests on her left knee. Saint Joachim is standing with his hands leaning on a staff and he is looking at the two other figures.
This sculpture alludes to an episode that took place during Mary’s childhood, but the Bible is completely silent on the birth, childhood and youth of the Virgin before the Annunciation. There isn’t even any reference to the name of her parents. These omissions from the official chronicle were overcome, to satisfy the faithful’s curiosity, by the Apocrypha. Among these, the most enlightening ones are: the Proto-Gospel of Saint James, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, and the Gospel of the Nativity of the Virgin.
These narratives became popular during the 13th century due to the action of Vincent of Beauvais, in his Speculum Historiae, and of the archbishop-hagiographer Jacobus de Varagine, in his Legenda Áurea or Golden Legend. But the ones that refer to the parents of the Virgin only inspired the occidental artists after the end of the Middle Ages, thanks to the late worship dedicated to Saint Anne.