| Annunciation | |
|---|---|
| Italian: Annunciazione | |
 The main panel | |
| Artist | Fra Angelico |
| Year | c. 1435 |
| Medium | Tempera on panel |
| Dimensions | 154 cm × 194 cm (391 in × 493 in) |
| Location | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
The Prado Annunciation is an altarpiece painted by the Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni da Fiesole, known as Fra Angelico, in the 1420s. It is one of his best-known works. Originally destined for the convent of the observant Dominicans of Fiesole, the painting is currently in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It is one of three altarpieces by Fra Angelico representing the Annunciation; the other two being the Cortona Annunciation and the Annunciation of San Giovanni Valdarno. The sequence in which the three works were painted is not certain, but the general art historical consensus places the Prado version first.
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Fra Angelico, The Annunciation (Prado)
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Transcription
DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: We're in the Prado in Madrid, and we're looking at Fra Angelico's Annunciation. Now, the Annunciation by Fra Angelico that most people are familiar with is a fresco that's in San Marco, in Florence. This is a painting that was made for a church not far from Florence-- DR. BETH HARRIS: In Fiesole. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: It is extraordinary in that the frame is original, and so, not only do you have the main panel, but you've got the predella underneath with all of its original framing elements. I'm not sure that I've ever seen that. DR. BETH HARRIS: These things were often taken apart and sold in pieces. We have an Old Testament scene of Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden, or the expulsion, by an angel, and actually that scene is joined to the Annunciation scene, because in the upper left, we see the hands of God releasing this divine light and a dove, which you can see just to the left of the column-- DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: The Holy Spirit. DR. BETH HARRIS: --which is the Holy Spirit. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: So we have actually the fall, and then the reason for Christ's existence. DR. BETH HARRIS: And Adam and Eve as the precursors to Mary and Christ. So the man and woman, who caused the Fall from Grace, and Mary and Christ, who make salvation possible. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And then we have God, the Father, looking down in an almost classical relief sculpture in the center just above that column. The predella below is the very condensed series of scenes of the life of the Virgin Mary, from her birth, to her marriage to Joseph, the Visitation-- DR. BETH HARRIS: Through to her death. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: --through to her death. That's right. And they are really meant, in a sense, the literal support for this later story. So stylistically, one of the things that I find quite important is the sense of quiet and solemnity that Fra Angelico was able to achieve. You have the angel, who is bowing below Mary. His hands are crossed, which is a symbol of respect, of prayer. Mary reflects that with her own hands. I'm really taken by the density of the Garden of Eden. All of that fruit, those flowers, those wonderful sort of anti-perspectival field of flowers below the feet. And then you have this piece of stark architecture. They are both too large for the space that they occupy. DR. BETH HARRIS: Absolutely. I think if Mary were to stand up, she would hit her head on the ceiling. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: I think so, but none of that is really important, because this is a kind of reverential and invented exploration of beauty as a way of representing the divine. DR. BETH HARRIS: So this is painted contemporaneous with Masaccio painting the Brancacci Chapel. So we have two radically different approaches going on in Florence at the same time. And I think that's a good reminder that not everything in the Renaissance is this linear movement toward naturalism, but this variety of styles. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Whereas Masaccio was looking for a very, almost mathematically, accurate rendering. Here we can see an artist who's looking to celebrate the decorative as a way of expressing the moral-- DR. BETH HARRIS: The spiritual DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: --and the spiritual. Absolutely. DR. BETH HARRIS: And if you look, there's no cast shadows. There's not that kind of intense modeling that we see with Masaccio. There's not a lot of specificity to the faces and individuality in the faces-- DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: But there is specificity to the decorative. Look at the wings of the angel, for example. DR. BETH HARRIS: Or the gilding of their halos. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Or just the foliage in the Garden. It's quite sumptuous, isn't it? DR. BETH HARRIS: It is.
History
The work was painted for a side altar in the Convent of San Domenico, Fiesole, where Fra Angelico was a friar. For the same church he also contributed the main altarpiece, showing the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Dominican saints (c. 1425) and the Coronation of the Virgin, now in the Louvre (c. 1424–1435) .
The Annunciation remained at San Domenico until 1611 when it was sold to the King of Spain and taken to Madrid, where it became part of the royal collections of the Spanish monarchy before moving to Prado.
Description
The scenes have a structure similar to the other two Annunciations but with some differences. As in the Annunciation of Cortona, the pictured surface is divided in three parts (the garden, the Angel's arch and the Virgin's arch), but the vanishing point is inside the home, as in the Annunciation of San Giovanni, focusing the viewer's attention on the Annunciation. This scheme draws attention away from the figures of Adam and Eve expelled from Eden, which in the Cortonese Annunciation are smaller but are near the vanishing point.
As in the other two works, they are moving in a flowered garden representing the virginity of Mary ("hortus conclusus"), inhabited by a multitude of plants and seedlings painted with great accuracy. Between the species with symbolic values, we can recognise the palm, representing the future martyrdom of Christ, and the red roses referring the blood of the Passion. The presence of Adam and Eve evidences the cycle of the human damnation, recomposed with the deliverance in Christ made possible by the acceptance of Mary.
From the high-left a ray of divine light illuminates, through the dove of Holy Spirit, the Virgin, who bends accepting her duty submissively. She's sitting on a seat covered with a rich drape acting as carpet, and she has on her knees an open book, symbol of the happening Scriptures.
The Angel has a similar pose and vest to the work of San Giovanni, although his figure appears more static and the folds of the vest are more schematic, and may be the work of a collaborator.
The scene is set under a Renaissance portico with the light arches stretched with wisdom on perspective, which remember the architecture of Michelozzo. Light appears unified, unlike the pail of Cortona, and moves from left to right for all the element.
The overall effect is of a precious description of the various details, with cold and bright colours, almost crystallized, in the changing colour harmonies of blue and pink.
Predella
In the predella there are five scenes from Mary's life ( Birth and Marriage, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, Presentation at the temple and the dormition) where the master had worked freely on the composition, less subjected to the iconographic tradition of the main scene.
The Sposalizio presents the background of a Renaissance church with portico, while the visitation shows a sidelong lodge, represented with ability. This scene does not reach the vivid expression of fatigue on the woman who is going to the chime as in the predella of the Annunciation of Cortona. The Adoration of the Magi instead is completely original and shows an innovative frontal iconography years before the revolution of Botticelli (Adoration of the Magi in the Uffizi, 1475), enhanced by the complex perspective of the hut's ruins. Here can be noticed the distinct use of lights by Beato Angelico, who creates a pure and crystal illumination which models volumes, enhances the chromatic harmony and unifies the scenes.
The following scene of the Presentation is more innovative, with the ambient placed inside a circular temple which seems projected through lens to the viewer, improving the scheme already used on the Presentation at the Temple by Gentile da Fabriano. The Dormition is the most traditional scene though the invention of the avvallamento between the background mountains can be considered innovative, because it creates a perspective channel to the holy way suspended by the Angels on the top.
Predella of the Pala of the Prado's Annunciation
Bibliography
- Angelico Venturino Alce, Angelicus pictor: vita, opere e teologia del Beato Angelico, Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 1993. ISBN 88-7094-126-4
- Guido Cornini, Beato Angelico, Giunti, Firenze 2000 ISBN 88-09-01602-5
External links
This page was last edited on 2 May 2024, at 01:57