Ancient painting of Saint Joachim and the angel, oil on canvas, 16th century.

Oil on canvas. Lombard school, late 16th century. In the large scene, an angel is depicted in the foreground announcing to Joachim, as he tends to his sheep, the imminent birth of his daughter; in the background, Joachim meets and embraces his wife Anne, who is waiting for him at the gates of a city: according to tradition, the two spouses, considered barren, after both receiving a visit from an angel, meet at the Golden Gate (of Jerusalem), symbolising the beginning of salvation through the conception of Mary, the future mother of Jesus. The profile of the city in the background refers to Cremona, likely the city of the work's patron, where Giovan Battista Trotti, known as Malosso (1555-1619), a Mannerist painter, lived and worked, to whom the work is stylistically related, allowing for the hypothesis of attribution to him or his workshop. The work, previously relined, shows slight losses of colour. It is presented with a frame.