Painting on  panel in tempera and gold leaf of Mary Awaiting to Give Birth completed in 1334 according to the inscription on the lower rim and attributed to Bernardo Daddi. This work could be described as a “painting within a painting”: in the centre, in a wooden frame, we see a pregnant Mary (her belly slightly rounded under a loose robe) holding an open prayer book and benevolently extending her right hand towards an elderly woman, whose hands are clasped in prayer. In front of her stands a young woman and by her loose robe we can assume she is pregnant too. Behind the elderly woman there is an acolyte holding a candle. The elderly woman is probably praying for the younger one, who could be her daughter. The prayer in Mary’s book is asking her to intercede with Christ, depicted in the cusp, to ensure a safe delivery for the young woman, just as Mary had with Jesus. On one side of the painting we have Saint Catherine of Alexandria and the wheel representing her martyrdom (the legend has it the emperor had condemned her to death on the wheel, but it shattered at her touch, so instead she was beheaded), and on the other is Saint Zenobius former bishop, and patron saint of Florence.