Maria Birth Scene

One of the most important biblical events, The Birth of the Virgin, otherwise named birth of Maria, has been the source of inspiration for many artists in history. The fascination of Uccello with the Christian stories often resonate in his other frescoes.

The painting was completed in 1435, in the early Renaissance. To make this painting the oil paint has been applied directly to wet chalk making it a fresco. Before making it he did numerous perspective sketching. At the time painting in perspective was such an unusual technique that experimentation was needed to get it looking right. One could argue that the painting is more isometric than linear in its perspective. Still, we count the painting under the linear styles due to its early implementation. It is currently owned by the Siena Cathedral in Italy.

In the Maria Birth Scene we can clearly see that the birth of the virgin is something momentous. The people around the event are all working diligently to make things better, happier and easier. On the left side, you can see a maid dressed in red who is quickly swishing down the stairs with needed items into a room full of attendants. They are blessing The Virgin. An interesting detail to note is within the three women entering the room from the right side of the fresco. It seems like they are presenting a gift of some sort.

The ambience of decency exudes from a small nudge the women in blue gives to the woman dressed yellow as if to push her into making her presentation. We can see that a lot of effort has been made to make the light look as natural as possible. We can see this in all the cloth materials and in the two vases the servant is holding as well. The painting is also painted in perspective. This is something very unusual for the date on which it was completed. The first painting known to man that used linear perspective was painted in 1415. This painting being only 20 years later than the first recorded linear perspective painting means this work was quite revolutionary for the art style at the time.