Annunciation

Scuola fiorentina XV-XVI sec. d.C./ fine - inizi

The small Annunciation is presented within a well-defined architectural context that divides the painting into two parts: the room contains Mary gathered in prayer; the courtyard, opening onto a landscape that fades from view, is the place of the Archangel Gabriel, who, as if still floating in the air, reaches Mary and greets her.

Technical information

Author: Scuola fiorentina
Title: Annunciation
Date: XV-XVI sec. d.C./ fine - inizi
Material and technique: Tempera on panel
Size: 70x65 cm
Location: Palazzo Pretorio Museum
First Floor

The perspective construction in this small panel is striking, in which through the minute description of details, of the floor, the openings, the curtains, the landscape, overlapping planes are created and a scene is brought to life that also comes alive through solutions displaying a certain degree of originality, such as the scroll that bisects the space of the courtyard door, emphasising its depth. Associated with Filippino Lippi's exquisite linearism, the author of this painting is inspired by the meticulous reconstruction of space typical of Domenico del Ghirlandaio's workshop. Having already been compared to the anonymous Master of Marradi and, in particular, to the Annunciation of the Pesaro seminary in 1510, his artistic personality is marked by a strong sense of eclecticism and a particular sensitivity, elements that in this panel are combined with sophisticated formal and spatial research. The intense decorative style and the powerful expressiveness of the faces and gestures draw comparisons with the small painting of Il Bacio di Giuda (The Kiss of Judas) by the same master, preserved in the Uffizi, in which, among other things, the agitated movement of Saint Peter recalls that of the archangel Gabriel.