promoted by Pope Sixtus IV, and by Agostini Chigi, who requested in his will the celebration of a solemn mass in his chapel on the day of the birth of the Virgin. The theological stance of sine culpa was also shared by the Augustinian friars of Santa Maria del Popolo. The idea that Mary, mother of Jesus can be stained by the original sin is abhorrent for God, the Father who averts this risk with his strong gesture even before Mary is conceived. The angels surrounding the Holy Father are angeli apteri, angels without wings, young men after the fashion of Michelangelo. They are intently browsing voluminous codices turning to the right and the left, an appropriate visualization of the sapiential books; the same motif appears on a modello drawing by Sebastiano for an altar-piece depicting the Assumption in the Rijksmuseum. In the lower part of the painting the newborn baby is prepared for her first bath by seven female servants. The woman holding the baby in the middle bears some deceptive - and probably intentional - resemblance to a Madonna. Saint Anne, who just gave birth to her daughter, is resting on the bed in the middle of the gloomy room which opens towards a courtyard. In the strongly lit rectangle of the doorway her husband, Joachim is greeted by a man. At the far end of the rather monumental courtyard a classical statue is visible, probably representing the Tiburtine Sibyl who prophesied the birth of Christ to Augustus. The ornate gilded bronze frame of the painting with acanthus leaves and acorns was made by Francuccio Francucci in 1655. Similar frames surround the lunette panels of Raffaello Vanni above the tombs. Christ and the Samaritan Woman The bronze bas-relief panel on the altar front is Christ and the Samaritan Woman, by Lorenzetto. The relief was made in the early 1520s and bought by Lorenzo Chigi from the heirs of the sculptor in 1552. According to Antonio Pinelli it was originally planned for the tomb of Francesca Ordeasca, the wife of Agostino Chigi. If true, then this offers an explanation for the unusual thematic choice that suits well to a female tomb but seems somewhat incongruous on the sepulchre of a man. Anyway it was placed on the only existing pyramid at the time, the tomb of Agostino Chigi, and later it was moved to the main altar by Bernini