Russian school, 18th-19th cent. 18TH-19TH C. "The Birth of the Virgin. Tempera on panel. Measurements: 35.5 x 29.5 cm. This icon shows the cycle of the birth of the Virgin, painted in bright, golden colours, reflecting the joy and triumph of St. Joachim and St. Anne at the birth of Mary. In the upper left part of the icon is the apparition of the angel to St. Joachim, announcing to him that, after much lamentation over his infertility, he will become a father together with St. Anne ("the Lord has heard your prayer, you will conceive and give birth, and they will speak of your offspring throughout the world"). To his right, the embrace of marriage is shown at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, synonymous with the Virgin's immaculate conception, i.e. without the lust of original sin. The lower part shows Saint Anne reclining on her bed, looking at Mary already born, wrapped in cloths. Below this passage is the first bathing of the Virgin Mary, just born, by two servant girls around a bathtub. The right half of the icon is reserved for the depiction of the parents with their daughter, in a highly ornamented architecture. The representation of the Nativity of the Virgin in Russian iconography dates back to the 10th and 11th centuries, and became particularly important after the triumph of Orthodoxy at the Council of Nicaea II. The present icon is in a good state of preservation, determined by the painstaking narrative and the artist's special attention to detail in each of the different passages.