By Cyrus Cheslak
Why was it made?
This piece is a narrative painting. This means that the painting tells a story. In this particular piece, the story is about the birth of the Virgin. The Virgin Mary is being born. She later became the mother of Jesus Christ. Notice that an angel is directly over Mary's head. Angels are usually assumed to come with heaven or God. The Angels are there because the Virgin Mary was to be the mother of the Son of God. If you look closely, you can see that her mother (in the bed) and father look very old and one would not expect them to produce children. This also suggests that god played a role in the birth of this child.
The Birth of the Virgin
Sano di pietro
1448
For Whom was it made?
This painting was part of a large altar piece in the Chapel of the town hall in Siena, Italy, which was called the predelle. It was later separated into the individual paintings. The predelle showed five different stages of Mary's life. The "Birth of the Virgin" is the first stage of her life. The "Birth of the Virgin" has a very ornate golden frame. She was also The Patron Saint of the City of Siena. Churches want paintings that reflect religious themes like the painting above. Churches used these images to help educate their followers about the stories in the Bible.
This is an aeriel view of the city of Siena, Italy. The building with the clock tower is the town hall where the painting originally hung.