The Immaculate Kiss Beneath the Golden Gate: The Influence of John Duns Scotus on Florentine Painting of the 14<sup xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">th</sup> Century

The dawn of the fourteenth century saw the sudden emergence of fresco cycles in Italy devoted to the Infancy of the Virgin. Although the Virgin Mary was a common figure in art of this period, she was usually portrayed in one of two roles – the Madonna of the Christ child or as one of the principal witnesses to the Crucifixion. Rarely were images of her own life prior to the Annunciation, referred to as the Infancy of the Virgin, depicted on the walls of Italian churches. In fact, illustrations of her youth were primarily found in illuminated prayer books such as the Book of Hours. Yet, in the early fourteenth century this rapidly changed and the Infancy of the Virgin became a popular subject in monumental wall painting in Italy. The most notable and influential of these fresco cycles was painted by Giotto di Bondone in the Arena Chapel in Padua around 1305.1 Often credited with marking the birth of Renaissance painting, the Arena frescoes visually portray twelve scenes from the Infancy of the Virgin, beginning with the story of Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents, and concluding with Mary’s marriage to Joseph. Although scholars agree that Giotto likely worked from an unidentified manuscript when creating the cycle, few have asked, “What prompted the sudden interest in the early life of the Virgin Mary in this and other monumental Italian art works?” This paper explores this question and suggests that the teachings of John Duns Scotus on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin and its adoption by the Franciscan Order had a pro-