# Apsidal arch: 1. Nativity of the Virgin [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CAVALLINI, Pietro]() - Date: 1251-1300 - Technique: Mosaic ## Commentary Apsidal arch: 1. Nativity of the Virgin 1296-1300 Mosaic Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome The Mary cycle begins on the apsidal arch left of the apse with the Nativity of the Virgin. In an elegant interior, St Anne, Mary's mother is half sitting up on a bed. Two maids in the centre of the picture offer her food and drink, while in the foreground two others are washing the newborn child. The figure of maid holding a pitcher and watching attentively was borrowed <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/m/master/isaac/isaac2.html'\)" href="/html/m/master/isaac/isaac2.html">from a fresco</a> in the upper church of San Francesco in Assisi. In this scene the background appears like a simple stage set based on ancient Roman domestic architecture and shrines, while its inlaid ornament derives from Roman medieval sources. ## Related artworks - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Apse: 2. Annunciation]() - [Apse: 3. Nativity of Christ]() - [Apse: 4. Adoration of the Kings]() - [Apse: 5. Presentation in the Temple]() - [Apse: St Peter Recommending Bertoldo Stefanschi to the Virgin]() - [Apsidal arch: 6. Dormition of the Virgin]() - [Crucifixion]() - [Dormition of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Esau Appears to Isaac \(fragment\)]() - [Interior view]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()