The story of the parents of the Virgin Mary is told in the 13th century Golden Legend, which took it from the apocryphal New Testament literature. Joachim, a rich man, and Anne his wife were without child after twenty years of marriage. When Joachim came to the Temple in Jerusalem on a feast day to make offering he was rebuked and turned away by the high priest because he was childless. "Joachim, all confused for this thing, durst not go home for shame." Instead he went and stayed with his shepherds in the desert, where an angel appeared to him. The angel foretold that Anne would conceive, and that the child would be the mother of Jesus. As a sign, Joachim was to go to the Golden Gate at Jerusalem where he would meet his wife. The angel then appeared to Anne with a similar message. The apocryphal Protoevangelium tells that the angel came while Anne was sitting in her garden under a laurel tree, lamenting her barrenness. Seeing a nest of sparrows in the tree she cried, "Woe unto me, even the fowls of the heaven are fruitful". The couple met at the appointed place and embraced joyfully, and from that moment Anne was with child. The story has similarities with the Old Testament accounts of the barrenness of Hannah (i.e. Anne), the mother of Samuel (I Sam. 1), and of Sarah, the mother of Isaac (Gen. 18:1–19), whose birth was foretold by angels. It is fairly common in the art of the 14th–16th century. The meeting at the Golden Gate is the most popular single episode; or it may form part of the cycle of scenes of the life of the Virgin.
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Joachim cast out of the Temple. Joachim stands at the entrance to the Temple with the lamb he has brought for sacrifice; or he is descending the stairs, turned away by the high priest who makes a gesture of refusal. In a few early examples he may be tumbling down the steps after being forcibly rejected.
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The annunciation to Joachim. He kneels before Gabriel, the angel of the annunciation, identifiable by his wand tipped with a fleur-de-lys. The setting is a rocky place, perhaps before a shepherd's hut, with sheep and shepherds nearby.
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The annunciation to Anne. The scene somewhat resembles the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, but is usually set in the garden. Anne sits under the laurel tree in which the sparrows are nesting. She may be speaking to a servant, or she kneels before the angel.
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The meeting at the Golden Gate. That Anne conceived, like the Virgin Mary herself, sine macula - that is, "without concupiscence"- was taught by the Church in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Before the emergence of that theme in art the embrace of Joachim and Anne was used instead to symbolize her conception. According to the Franciscans it was their kiss that brought about Anne's conception, and this was therefore the first redemptive act of God. The Golden Gate was compared to the "porta clausa", the closed gate (Ezek. 44:1–2) which was the symbol of Mary's virginity. The pair are depicted standing outside a city gate at the moment of their embrace. The gate may be ornamented with gold. Anne is usually attended by her women servants, Joachim by shepherds. The angel Gabriel floats overhead; other versions may show the angel leading Joachim towards his wife, or Anne on her knees before him. The theme is occasionally found in Counter-Reformation art though by then it had generally been superseded by the Immaculate Conception.
James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, New York: Harper & Row, rev. ed. 1979