Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, one of the most important celebrations in the liturgical calendar and the subject of some of my very favourite paintings.
I love the one by Fra Angelico in San Marco in Firenze. Can’t quite remember it is in a cell or above the stairs but I love the idea that a monk had it to contemplate for a lifetime.
It is an unforgettable experience walking up the stairs and beholding that beloved Annunciation icon. Like some other folks I tried to sit and sketch it for as long as I could and its position above the stairs where people were coming and going definitely made that challenging (though San Marco somehow—I guess because of Angelico’s art and the building itself and perhaps just the act of sitting and sketching—remained peaceful and contemplative even with crowds). There is another beautiful annunciation in one of the cells too I remember.
Thank you Agnes: I love Annunciations in general and was stopped in my tracks when I saw the Simone Martini too. I sort of ‘collect’ Annunciations where Gabriel enters the Virgin’s space from the right: not too common. Is there a convention that you are aware of?
How timely. I have just seen The Annunciation by Simone Martini. It is part of the exhibition Siena, The rise of painting at the National Gallery in London. Remarkable painting.
I love the one by Fra Angelico in San Marco in Firenze. Can’t quite remember it is in a cell or above the stairs but I love the idea that a monk had it to contemplate for a lifetime.
It is an unforgettable experience walking up the stairs and beholding that beloved Annunciation icon. Like some other folks I tried to sit and sketch it for as long as I could and its position above the stairs where people were coming and going definitely made that challenging (though San Marco somehow—I guess because of Angelico’s art and the building itself and perhaps just the act of sitting and sketching—remained peaceful and contemplative even with crowds). There is another beautiful annunciation in one of the cells too I remember.
Thank you Agnes: I love Annunciations in general and was stopped in my tracks when I saw the Simone Martini too. I sort of ‘collect’ Annunciations where Gabriel enters the Virgin’s space from the right: not too common. Is there a convention that you are aware of?
Anne-Lucie Norton
I also burst into tears in front of an Annunciation scene at the Uffizi, only mine was the Leonardo painting. Good stuff.
It is, indeed, a moving painting.
I think that beautiful painting caused the Stendhal effect, same as I had with Botticelli. Lovely post.
Is there a reason why the Angel Gabriel is always painted on the left and Mary on the right in I believe every annunciation I have ever seen?
sorry I'd missed this, simple convention. Rather like reading from left to right I suppose, that which heralds before that which is heralded!
How timely. I have just seen The Annunciation by Simone Martini. It is part of the exhibition Siena, The rise of painting at the National Gallery in London. Remarkable painting.