To avoid the “ignorant error” of representing the Meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate with a kiss between the two saints (following the idea that the Virgin Mary was conceived by a kiss according to some ancient little women testimonies), the artists should not depict such scene and follow, instead, “the sanest painters”: both saints embracing each other with great composure and modesty, which is very decent according to the married Saints”. The correct way of representing the costumes of the main characters can be seen on “Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate ” (1504), engraving made by Albrecht Drer; and artwork made by Pacheco himself, “San Joaquin e Santa Ana en la Puerta Dorada” (1600 c.), painted for the chapel of the Annunciation at the Jesuit College of Dan Hermenegildo in Seville, now in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid.
“The costume must be that worn by the sanest painters, taking as an example the great Albrecht Dürer in the Life of Our Lady printed on wood. I have painted them in this passage, both kneeling, very joyful, giving thanks to Our Lord, looking at a light that appears to them in the sky, or, as is more likely, embracing each other with great composure and modesty, which is very decent according to married Saints: but not giving each other the kiss of peace, to avoid the ignorant error of some ancient little women who affirmed, according to a serious author, that the Virgin Our Lady was conceived by that kiss, without any other means”.
“El traje ha de ser el que usan los pintores más cuerdos, tomando por exemplar al gran Alberto Durero en la Vida de Nuestra Señora estampada en madera. Yo los he pintado en este paso, ambos de rodillas, muy alegres, dando gracias a Nuestro Señor, mirando una luz que les aparece en el cielo o, como es más probable, abrazándose con gran compostura y modestia, que esto es muy decente conforme a Santos casados: pero no dándose ósculo de paz, por evitar el ignorante error de unas antiguas mujercillas que afirmaban según un grave autor, que por aquel beso, sin otro medio, fue concebida la Virgen Nuestra Señora”.
Pacheco 1990, 572, n. 29; Pacheco 1990, 573, n.30;
