The ''Annunciation of Cortona'' is a panel-painting
altarpiece
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...
or
retable
A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...
by
Fra Angelico: once housed in the Church of Gesù of
Cortona
Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.
Toponymy
Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓 ...
, it is now held at the Museo Diocesano in Cortona.
History
The ''Annunciation of Cortona'' was painted by Fra Angelico in 1433–1434, in tempera on panel, 175 cm x 180 cm.
This is one of three Annunciations by Fra Angelico on the table (the other two are in the
Prado Museum
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
, and the Museo della Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, in
San Giovanni Valdarno. Two others, in fresco, are found in the convent of
San Marco, Florence, at the top of the access stairs and the third cell.
There are also scenes of the theme combined with Adoration of the Magi at the Museum San Marco, and a
diptych in the
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria.
Theme
The scene is typical of Christian iconography, "The Annunciation to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel", is described in the Gospels and in great detail in ''The Golden Legend'' of
Jacobus de Voragine, the reference book of painters of the Renaissance, which can be represented in all its symbolic (walled garden column, the presence of the Holy Spirit, an evocation of Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise).
Description
This work is the main panel of a polyptych work, which includes a multi predella panels with scenes from the Life of the Virgin at the same Annunciazione di San Giovanni Valdarno:
*''Marriage of the Virgin,''
*''Adoration of the Magi,''
*''Presentation in the Temple,''
*''Dormition.''
They are also attributed to
Zanobi Strozzi, an assistant of Fra Angelico.
On the left, the scene of invoking the
original sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
, is consistent with the principles of the Christian iconography of the painting: the pair of Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise is situated outside the walled garden of Mary, set off on a hill beyond a fence.
Conversely from other Annunciations of Fra Angelico, the vanishing point of perspective is in focus monofocal the left of the table.
Interesting inscriptions
Interesting about the annunciation scene are the three lines of text painted between the Archangel on the left and the Virgin on the right. The words of the angel are written on two lines, reading from left to right. The words of Mary are between those two lines. If we look attentively we see that her words are written upside-down. But that is not all. Mary's reply is also written backwards. As a consequence we have to stand upside-down, reading from right to left, to discover what she is saying.
[Lasse Hodne, ‘Reading and Viewing Words in Fra Angelico’s Typological Paintings’, Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia 24 (2011) nr. 10, p. 260.]
This indicates to the viewer that the words are addressed to God, who would be in the proper position to read them.
References
External link
{{Fra Angelico
1430s paintings
Paintings by Fra Angelico
Paintings depicting the Annunciation
Paintings in Cortona
Altarpieces