Apsidal arch: 1. Nativity of the Virgin

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 from a fresco 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.