|
The Annunciation (1472–1475) is a painting by
Leonardo da Vinci in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It depicts
the annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that
she will conceive Jesus Christ and is set in the enclosed
courtyard garden of a Florentine villa.
The angel holds a Madonna lily, a symbol of Mary's virginity and
of the city of Florence. It is supposed that Leonardo originally
copied the wings from those of a bird in flight, but they have
since been lengthened by a later artist.
When Annunciation came to the Uffizi in 1867 from the monastery of
San Bartolomeo of Monteoliveto, near Florence, it was ascribed to
Domenico Ghirlandaio, who was, like Leonardo, an apprentice in the
workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1869, some critics
recognized it as a youthful work by Leonardo.
Verrocchio used lead-based paint and heavy brush strokes. He left
a note for Leonardo to finish the background and the angel.
Leonardo used light brush strokes and no lead. When the
Annunciation was x-rayed, Verrocchio's work was evident while
Leonardo's angel was invisible.
The marble table in front of the Virgin probably quotes the tomb
of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici in the Basilica of San Lorenzo,
Florence that Verrocchio sculpted in this same period.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
The Annunciation is also an oil painting by the Italian master
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, finished around 1608. It housed
in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy.
The painting has been considerably damaged and retouched, and what
remains of Caravaggio's brushwork is the angel, who bears a
resemblance to the figure in John the Baptist at the Fountain. The
illusionistic treatment of the angel, floating on his cloud and
seeming to protrude outside the picture plane, is more Baroque
than is normal for Caravaggio, but the contrast between the
energetic pose of the heavenly messenger and the receptive Mary is
dramatically and psychologically effective. The loose brushwork is
typical of Caravaggio's later period.
The painting was given by Henry II, Duke of Lorraine, to his
primatial church in Nancy as the main altarpiece, and was perhaps
acquired by one of the Duke's sons in the course of a visit to
Malta in 1608.
Annunciation (Lippi, Rome)
The Annunciation is a painting by the Italian
Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi, finished around 1445-1450. It
is housed in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome.
Differences with other depictions of the Annunciation include the
angel's position on the right and the use of a very bright source
of light, inspired by works of Filippo Brunelleschi and Beato
Angelico. On the top are the hands of God, emerging from the
clouds and releasing the dove of the Holy Ghost. The dove descends
along a luminous trail running toward the Virgin's shoulder,
transmitting the Divine Will through materialized light.
The architectural framework may be the work of an assistant.
|
