Description

The polychrome depicts the parents and grandparents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The parents, Joachim and Anne, are depicted above, as they were on the threshold of the New Testament. They are taking on a kneeling posture because it was given to them to see Jesus. St. Anne's parents, the apocryphal grandparents of Mary - Stolanus and Emerence - are shown below. Since they had not seen the Saviour with their own eyes, a small angel explains to them the passages of the Holy Scriptures concerning the Messiah who is to be born. Two brothers are painted in the lunettes. Saint Jude Thaddaeus is holding a mace, which is the attribute of his martyrdom (left side). The other Apostle - St. James, called the Less, is depicted on the right. Both were cousins of St. Joseph.