Life in the Renaissance In this detail from a fresco of the birth of the Virgin Mary in the Church of San Michele al Pozzo Bianco in Bergamo, Italian painter Lorenzo Lotto depicts a birth scene that would have been common among upper-class urban residents in Renaissance Italy. The birth occurs at home, with lots of women bustling about, including servants, dressed simply, and female relatives, in fancier clothing. A professional midwife sits by the side of the bed, and the mother looks quite content, a sign that this has been a successful and fairly easy childbirth, which was not always the case.

(By Lorenzo Lotto [ca. 1480–1556], Church of San Michele al Pozzo Bianco, Bergamo, Italy/Mauro Ranzani Archive/Alinari Archives/Bridgeman Images)