December 8 is day we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the virgin Mary by her mother, St Anne. In pictures this is shown usually as elderly Anne and her husband Joachim outside the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. They reunite after Joachim returns from an exile in the wilderness. It is in the tender moment of their embrace, their kiss, that Mary is conceived. (Mary’s birthday is Sept 8. The Bible is punctilious in counting gestation periods.)

This is THE Immaculate Conception, by the way. Mary conceives Jesus at The Annunciation (March 25th) while Mary is conceived on December 8 and this is the Immaculate Conception. Anne conceives Mary in her kiss with Joachim. 

This painting features and richly conveys the gentle scene of the tender reunion. Filippino’s central feature is the elderly couple, in rich, flowing robes central to the picture. Both wear blue so that the two figures almost merge into one. Their blue robes are a deep, rich blue, while the handmaidens shown to the couple’s left are painted in less saturated, lighter and softer colors. And John the Baptist on their right seems to be in shadow. 

Fillipino Lippi was the son of the famous artist Fra Fillipo Lippi, and Lucrezia Buti, a nun.  He was born in Prato. Fillipino studied first with his father who was a much-admired painter, and later in the studio of Botticelli in Florence. From the start, Filippino’s work was animated by form and line, and a warm use of color A lot of Filippino’s work was done in important chapels around Florence and Rome, as is also true of many Renaissance artists. 

It was the sweetness and tenderness of the picture that drew me to it. Giotto (and others) painted the same scene, and I think probably the fact that the couple is old and still so warmly loving appealed strongly to me.