Annunciation

Among the 18th-century altarpieces from the Prato area, it is certainly worth mentioning this enchanting Annunciation, painted by a young Giovanni Domenico Ferretti, a Florentine painter of Emilian training who later became one of the greatest Tuscan artists of the first half of the 18th century. It has been confirmed by some archival documents that this work was painted in 1726 by Ferretti for the lost church of Saint Matthew as part of the altarpiece by Sigismondo Betti depicting the miracle of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino resurrecting the partridges, exhibited in the same room.
The protagonists of the artwork are depicted in a dynamic ascensional composition, in a tension toward the afterlife. On the lower right, the Virgin, with a pale face, is on her knees gazing downward; just above her, on the left, the Archangel Gabriel, in a light-coloured robe with quick draperies, holds a lily and blesses Mary with his other hand; finally, above Mary, between clouds and cherubs, we find God, with a thick white beard, who watches the scene from above and sends the dove of the Holy Spirit. A ray of light tears the darkness around Mary, as if to symbolise the mirage of eternal life.
There is a wide and round appearance to the protagonists, with the characteristic pleasure of Ferretti.
With the tender monochromes the artwork anticipates the series of canvases with Stories of Saint Catherine that the artist will make in Prato around 1735 for the convent of Saints Vincent and Catherine de' Ricci. Ferretti's other Prato commissions include frescoes for the Crucifix Chapel in Saint Bartholomew, which were unfortunately destroyed following the bombing of the church in 1944.