# Birth of Mary [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BOCCACCINO, Boccaccio]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Fresco ## Commentary The decoration of the Cremona Cathedral was begun in the semi-dome vault of the apse in 1506. Boccaccio Boccaccino depicted, following a time-honoured scheme, the Epiphany of God in the Last Days \(Christ in Majesty\) as the principal and culminating image within the church space. Later, in 1514 Boccaccino received the commission to begin a fresco cycle of the life of Mary and Christ on the walls of the nave. They begin on the left wall, running from the façade to the apse and then on the right wall from the apse back to the façade. The left wall is dedicated to Mary and Christ's childhood; the right to the Passion. Boccaccino divided the rectangular sections above the arcades of the nave into two fields by painted pilasters. The scenes of the fresco cycle were placed into these sections. In 1514-15 Boccaccino began with the first four scenes of the story of Mary above the first and second arches of the arcade: Annunciation to Joachim; Meeting at the Golden Gate; Birth of Mary; Betrothal of Mary. Boccaccino painted the next four scenes of the cycle in 1515-17 above the third and fourth arches: Annunciation to Mary; Visitation; Adoration of the Shepherds; Circumcision of Christ. In designing the cycle Boccaccino followed a famous model, Albrecht Dürer's woodcut series <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/d/durer/2/12/5virgin/index.html'\)" href="/html/d/durer/2/12/5virgin/index.html">Life of the Virgin.</a> Boccaccino did not copy Dürer's inventions, but found inspiration in just a few crucial constellations of figures. For the individual motifs, the formal language of the details, and the shaping of the whole, Boccaccino followed Italian traditions. In the scenes of the Birth of Mary and Betrothal of Mary, festive colour dominates both the interior and the temple square, while in the background the dark openings of the fireplace and the gate correspond. ## Related artworks - [Annunciation to Joachim]() - [Annunciation to Mary]() - [Betrothal of Mary]() - [Christ in Majesty with the Patron Saints of Cremona]() - [Gypsy Girl]() - [Liber Iesus]() - [Meeting at the Golden Gate]() - [St John the Evangelist]() - [St Matthew]() - [Virgin and Child]() - [Virgin and Child]() - [Virgin and Child]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()