Giotto’s fresco Meeting at the Golden Gate in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua is often considered the first kiss in Renaissance art, or even the first emotive kiss in Western painting.
One of the most tender moments in the cycle is the Meeting at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, where Joachim and Anne embrace upon learning they will have a child. Giotto distills the human essence of this divine message into a touching display of love and relief, capturing their faces in profile as they touch foreheads in a moment of sublime stillness. This is often described as the first true kiss in European painting.