The ''Annunciation Triptych'' is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian late Gothic artist Lorenzo Monaco, now housed in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

History

The triptych was commissioned for the church of San Procolo of Florence, where Renaissance art historian

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

saw it, but attributed it to

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. ...

. It was recognized as a work by Lorenzo Monaco by Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle in 1864. It has been variously dated from 1408 to 1418. The work had originally different cusps (perhaps with heads of prophets) and a predella, which is now lost.

Description

The painting includes compartments divided into two panels surmounted by cusps, each sharing a golden background. The central painting depicts the Virgin, on a throne barely under her dress visible, on the right, and a hovering

Angel of the Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

on the left. Behind her are parts of a house, including a double

mullioned window A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

, while next to her head is the

Holy Ghost For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is believed to be the third person of the Trinity, a Triune God manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each entity itself being God.Gru ...

dove. The drapes feature intricate

arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

s, perhaps influenced by the

International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by ...

style introduced by

Gherardo Starnina Gherardo Starnina (c. 1360–1413) was an Italian painter from Florence in the Quattrocento era. According to the biographer Giorgio Vasari, Starnina initially trained with Antonio Veneziano, then with Agnolo Gaddi. He is claimed to have parti ...

and Lorenzo Ghiberti.

Sources

*{{cite book, editor=D. Parenti and A. Tartuferi , title=Intorno a Lorenzo Monaco. Nuovi studi sulla pittura tardogotica, publisher=Sillabe, location=Livorno , year=2007

External links

Page at Florence museums website
Paintings by Lorenzo Monaco 1410s paintings Paintings depicting the Annunciation Triptychs Paintings in the collection of the Galleria dell'Accademia