- Annunciation of Cortona
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The retable in its entirety, with its predella and gilded frame
The central paintingThe Annunciation of Cortona is a panel-painting altarpiece or retable by Fra Angelico: once housed in the Church of Gesù of Cortona, it is now held at the Diocesan Museum in the same city.
Contents
History
The Annunciation of Cortona was painted by Fra Angelico in 1433-1434, in tempera on panel, 175 cm x 180 cm.[1]
This is one of three Annunciations by Fra Angelico on the table (the other two are the in the Prado Museum, 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, 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.[2]
Conversely from other Annunciations of Fra Angelico, the vanishing point of perspective is in focus monofocal the left of the table.
References
External links
- "Annonciation de Cortone", French wikipedia
Fiesole Altarpiece (1424-1425) · San Pietro Martire Triptych (1428-1429) · Annunciation (c. 1430) · Annunciation (1430-1432) · Tabernacle of the Linaioli (1433-1435) · Coronation of the Virgin (1434-1435) · Annunciation (before 1435) · Cortona Triptych (1436-1437) · Perugia Altarpiece (c. 1437) · San Marco Altarpiece (1438-1443) · Frescoes in the Niccoline Chapel (1447–1449) · The Last Judgment (1425-1430)
Categories:- 1430s paintings
- Fra Angelico paintings
- Annunciation in Christian art
- Painting stubs
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