The St. Andrew Altarpiece: Detail, the pregnant woman
1420-30
Provenance: Catalunya
The Cloisters, New York City
This is the second predella panel, concluding the story of the woman who worshipped Diana. Identifiable by the same green robe and purple mantle as in the first predella panel, the woman brings St. Andrew to her sister. He tells the sister that if she repents of her sins and believes in Christ the pregnancy will go easy. Her accession to this advice is pictured by her kneeling on the bed and pressing her hands together in the gesture of Christian prayer.
No other persons are mentioned in the Legend's account, but I would imagine that the old woman holding a white cloth in the foreground would be a midwife and her white cloth would have something to do with the baby.
Read the story in the Golden Legend.
See the first predella panel, illustrating the first part of the story.
View the entire altarpiece.
Read more about images of St. Andrew.
Photographed at the Cloisters by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.