The work uses a scenic composition typical of the
Danube school of the time. The subject, the birth of Mary, is shown in a secondary location in the lower part of the painting. It includes
St. Anne's bed, the midwives with the daughter. St. Joachim, having been out for provisions, returns with a bundle slung from his staff across his shoulder. The predominant part of the work is the church background, where angels fly to form a large circle: in the middle is a young angel with a
thurible for incense. The edifice, symbolizing the analogy between Mary and the Catholic church (a subject later abolished by the
Protestant Reformation), is organized in a complicated and original fashion: the ambulatory and the column galleries are
Romanesque, the ogival windows are
Gothic, the vaults and the shell-shaped niches are in
Renaissance style. This attention to architectural elements was typical of Altdorfer's work in the period he spent at the court of
Maximilian I. == See also ==