Giotto, Joachim Rejected at the Temple

1303-1305
Fresco
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua

Inside the Temple a man is offering doves to the Lord. Outside, a Temple official tells Joachim he may not enter because his wife's sterility signifies that God has cursed him for some unspecified misdeed. This traditional account goes back to the second-century Protevangelium of James.

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Photographed at the chapel by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.