Annunciation of Cortona
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The ''Annunciation of Cortona'' is a panel-painting altarpiece 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 Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his '' Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent".Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Artists''. Pengu ...
: once housed in the Church of Gesù of Cortona, 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 San Giovanni Valdarno is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, central Italy, located in the valley of the Arno River. History According to the Italian medieval historian Giovanni Villani, the town was founded in 1296, by th ...
. Two others, in fresco, are found in the convent of
San Marco, Florence San Marco is a religious complex in Florence, Italy. It comprises a church and a convent. The convent, which is now the Museo Nazionale di San Marco, has three claims to fame. During the 15th century it was home to two famous Dominicans, the pa ...
, 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 A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...
in the
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria The Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria (English: National Gallery of Umbria) the Italian national paintings collection of Umbria, housed in the Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia, in central Italy. Located on the upper floors of the Palazzo dei Priori, the ex ...
.


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 Jacobus de Voragine (c. 123013/16 July 1298) was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author, or more accurately the compiler, of the '' Golden Legend'', a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medi ...
, 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 Zanobi di Benedetto di Caroccio degli Strozzi (17 November 1412 – 6 December 1468), normally referred to more simply as Zanobi Strozzi, was an Italian Renaissance painter and manuscript illuminator active in Florence and nearby Fiesole. He was ...
, an assistant of Fra Angelico. On the left, the scene of invoking the original sin, 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