Domenico Ghirlandaio - The Birth of St. John the Baptist

That baby, breastfeeding peacefully at the foreground of Ghirlandaio’s fresco, is St. John the Baptist. But he is not suckling from his mother’s breast. His mother, Elizabeth, is the elderly lady, majestically towering over others in a raised bed.

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According to the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth and her husband Zachariah were “righteous in the eyes of God” but could not conceive a son past their childbearing years. Angel Gabriel told Zachariah that God will bless them with child but Zachariah (not surprisingly) had doubts. To teach Zachariah a lesson in piety, Gabriel made him mute. When the miracle finally eventuated and Elizabeth gave birth to baby St John, Zachariah regained his speech and praised God.

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Ghirlandaio’s image is a woman’s domain and Zachariah is not depicted in the scene. Instead, female members of the aristocratic Tornabuoni family from Florence are present here in Elizabeth’s chamber. The chamber itself is depicted in a typical Quattrocento style and the ladies are dressed in luxurious contemporary Florentine fashions. By placing his patrons in a biblical scene, Ghirlandaio elevates their noble status.

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The fashion and the architecture, though, are not the only things that are contemporary to 15th century Florence here.

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The reason why a nurse is breastfeeding St John the Baptist is not because Elizabeth is incapable of doing it herself. This is what would happen to any aristocratic woman of the time after giving birth. The reason why Renaissance noble women did not breastfeed their babies was because they needed to procreate tirelessly in order to produce male heirs and extend their blood line. Hence, it was much more common for women of the lower classes to breastfeed and consequently they had far fewer children.

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Image:

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Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Birth of St. John the Baptist, 1486-90, fresco