* * * * *

VI.

THE MEETING AT THE GOLDEN GATE.

"And Joachim went down with the shepherds, and Anna stood by the gate,
and saw Joachim coming with the shepherds. And she ran, and hanging
about his neck, said, 'Now I know that the Lord hath greatly blessed
me.'" (Protevangelion, iv. 8, 9.)

This is one of the most celebrated of Giotto's compositions, and
deservedly so, being full of the most solemn grace and tenderness. The
face of St. Anna, half seen, is most touching in its depth of
expression; and it is very interesting to observe how Giotto has
enhanced its sweetness, by giving a harder and grosser character than
is usual with him to the heads of the other two principal female
figures (not but that this cast of feature is found frequently in the
figures of somewhat earlier art), and by the rough and weather-beaten
countenance of the entering shepherd. In like manner, the falling
lines of the draperies owe a great part of their value to the abrupt
and ugly oblongs of the horizontal masonry which adjoins them.

* * * * *

VII.

THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN.