Birth of Mary
- Subject
- Late Gothic retable depicting scenes from the lives of Mary and Jesus
- Author, school, workshop
- Wit Stwosz (ca. 1448-1533)
- Contributor
- -
- Style
- Late Gothic
- Date
- 1477-1489
- Type
- Altarpiece in the form of a pentaptych
- Material and technique
- Wood/carving, gilding, polychrome
- Size
- 2,5 × 2,3 m
- Signatures and inscriptions
- -
- Identity number
- -
- Department
- -
- Owner
- Saint Mary's Basilica in Krakow
- Copyright
- Saint Mary's Basilica in Krakow
- Location
- Saint Mary's altar (by Wit Stwosz) in the presbytery
- Description
- The Conception and Birth of Mary are not mentioned in any of the Gospels. The literary sources for these scenes are the Apocrypha, texts very popular throughout the Middle Ages, but never included in the canon of writings of the Universal Church. The birth of Mary is accompanied by experienced women who receive the child, prepare a bath near the fireplace and prepare a meal for the exhausted midwife. The origins of this kind of imagery lie primarily in 15th century Dutch painting, which Stwosz probably knew from the autopsy.
