The Birth of Mary 1490

Domenico Ghirlandaio painted ‘The Birth of Mary’ as part of a fresco cycle in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, sometime in the late 15th century. During the Renaissance, wealthy families often commissioned art for churches, embedding their likenesses in religious scenes. Ghirlandaio situates the biblical event in a contemporary Florentine home, complete with fashionable women. He blurs the line between the sacred and the secular, reflecting the humanist values of the time. The fresco depicts Saint Anne in childbed while midwives prepare to bathe the newborn Mary. Noblewomen, perhaps portraits of the Tornabuoni family who commissioned the fresco, look on. Ghirlandaio uses this intimate, domestic scene to comment on the roles of women in society, emphasizing motherhood and family lineage. The serene depiction of childbirth, a universally shared experience, lends a human touch to this religious narrative. It reminds us that even holy figures have ordinary beginnings.