Talk of the fifteenth-century Florentine art and a few names arise: Ghiberti’s bronze door, Donatello’s paintings, Masaccio’s Trinity, and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. The time paralleled the transition to late Gothic art while almost perfectly mastering the singular linear perspective. The paintings of this time, after the 1420s, were appreciated for being physically more convincing, and they might have acted as a didactic instrument, proving to be more purposeful. Now at this state of time, two religious orders were passed, which the artists also obeyed. Among these two orders, the first one was passed by Carmelites who commissioned Masaccio to paint the authorized religious scenes, and the second was passed by the Dominicans, whose major artist was Fra Angelico. Hence, religion always shaped Florentine art and the Renaissance. The Dominici believed that the duty of the artists was moral enlightenment and that no women or similar subjects must be painted nude, as those are ill adaptations of the devotional excitement. Furthermore, the annunciation paintings must never consist of the child Christ, as there must be no presence of the superfluous figures. Today, in this article, I am here to discuss one such religious painting, the Annunciation, composed by Fra Angelico and commonly referred to as Annunciation (Fra Angelico).
Annunciation (Fra Angelico) | Fast Knowledge
Annunciation by Fra Angelico is an Early Renaissance tempera-on-panel painting portraying a biblical scene [Luke 1:28-33] of Gabriel announcing to Mary her being God’s choice for the birth of Christ. Admiring the interior of Museo di San Marco in Florence, the frame is among the holiest representations and uses a few Gothic techniques.
Today’s Book Recommendation.
On the Genealogy of Morals (Penguin Classics) by Friedrich Nietzsche.
One question: Who invented morality? Who said anger, frustration, or guilt is immoral? Finding the answer brought me to the famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s book, which divides society into two parts—nobles and slaves; the former created morality. Contrary to the article, I present this book, which aims to discover the current value system while finding its origin. It challenges the reader’s mind, as it logically debates the reality.
General Information About the Artwork.
1. Artist’s Statement.
We don’t know any statements from the artist himself, but one of the quotes by which Vasari intended to describe him says,
“Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiesole, who was known in the world as Guido, was no less excellent as painter and illuminator that he was upright as a churchman, and for both one and the other of these reasons he deserves that most honourable record should be made of him. This man, although he could have lived in the world with the greatest comfort and could have gained whatever he wished, besides what he possessed, by means of those arts, of which he had a very good knowledge even in his youth, yet resolved, for his peace and satisfaction, being by nature serious and upright.”
In the words of John Ruskin, in Modern Painters, Volume II, he describes Guido as
“Fra Angelico is not an artist property so called, but an inspired saint.”
2. Subject Matter.
The still and meditative tableau of the Annunciation (Fra Angelico) depicts one of the defining moments of the Christian tradition, when Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is chosen to be the mother of Christ. Hence, the subject matter of this artwork is Archangel Gabriel in the form of an angel meeting the Virgin Mary. The latter is depicted wearing an ultramarine dress with a holy halo and a blessed posture. On the other hand, Gabriel is shining with a gold-patterned robe and colorful feathers. In the Annunciation, the artist used simple Michelozzan architecture with heavier columns and foliated capitals. There is spaciousness in the interiors with a new equilibrium between the two figures.
We will do an extensive breakdown of the composition through different elements and will learn the subject matter in-depth in the upcoming sections.
3. Artist.
Born in 1387 at Vicchio near Florence, his name was Guido da Vicchio. In his early life, he took vows of religious life at an earlier age than that of twenty. He composed many fine frescoes and altarpieces using fine lines, light, and pure colors inspired by artists like Piero della Francesca. He illustrated illuminated manuscripts when he joined the Dominican order at Fiesole, near Florence. It is crucial to know that Fra Giovanni was the name his disciples would call him, and “Angelico” (angelic) was probably added to his name after his death.
Apart from the church’s patronage, he received other commissions, which let him travel widely in his later years. However, the best of his works are visible in the San Marco Monastery of Florence from 1440.
4. Date.
The Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco) was composed in the years 1441-45.
5. Provenance.
The painting was a commission from Cosimo de’ Medici. It was originally designed for the high altar of the Franciscan church of San Buonaventura at Bosco ai Frati. We know that paintings and frescoes made by Fra Angelico at different points in his career revisited the theme of the Annunciation. For instance, an altarpiece for San Domenico in Cortona, Tuscany, also depicts the Annunciation, currently in the Prado, from around the same time. Cortona’s altarpiece, while similar in design, is more decorative and features gold text flowing from the Gabriel’s and Mary’s mouths. Annunciation by Fra Angelico is one of his third most celebrated frescoes, a work that can be seen in the dormitory staircase of the Convent of San Marco near Florence. In contrast to the two earlier versions, which are dramatic and colorful, this image is serene and pure.
6. Location.
Fra Angelico’s Annunciation resides in the north corridor, on the south wall of the Museo di San Marco.
7. Technique and Medium.
The painting has a medium of tempera on the panel. Using linear perspective, the artist convinced the viewer that the area within the classical portico structure is tangible and has three-dimensional space. The fresco dates back to the Early Renaissance period and has a few elaborate techniques from when the Gothic conventions were abandoned.
There are Corinthian columns in the painting, which decrease in size and recede into the background, and the arches in the ceiling appear to be rising.
| Artist | Fra Angelico |
| Year Painted | 1441-45 |
| Medium | Tempera on panel |
| Period | Early Renaissance |
| Genre | Religious painting |
| Dimensions | 230 x 321 cm |
| Worth | Not on sale |
| Where is it housed? | Museo di San Marco |
A Detailed Explication of Annunciation (Fra Angelico).
About the Artist: Fra Angelico.
Born as Guido, Fra Angelico, the Dominican friar, was born in 1387 at Vicchio, near Florence. Before we read anything about the artist, you must know that we really don’t know anything about him. There is a vast gap of at least twenty years, which lies in the shadows. Whatever we know about him is through a brief account of Vasari and then his commissions.
In 1407, he and his brother presented themselves at the Dominican convent of the Observance at Fiesole. After a year’s novitiate at Cortona, he returned to Fiesole in 1408 and took the cowl for the good under Fra Giovanni.
One of the first works he painted was a panel in the Certosa of Florence, placed in the principal chapel, where he painted the Madonna with a child in her arms and beautiful angels at her feet. Beloved for his merits, he was accompanied by his brother, Benedetto, to reach the convent and seek a religious life. The artist had no records of the time, which mentions his profession as a painter, until many years later. It was in 1432 that he was commissioned for the Annunciation. In 1433, at Florence, he was called to paint a large altarpiece for which Lorenzo Ghiberti designed the marble frame.
Another well-known early work of his was The Last Judgment, which is in the Accademia in Florence. It consists of a marvelous group of angels solemnly dancing in a ring before Christ.
And the best-known composition from the artist is the Madonna dei Linaioli. Surrounded by twelve angels on the frame, they each hold a musical instrument, catching a public fancy in a way that no other works of the artist could do. The shimmering-pleasant color, graceful forms, and charming look form a rigid structure on the canvas.
We’ve already seen a brief overview of his works, and now let’s move on to the actual reason for our visit, to learn about one of his most perfect images, The Annunciation.
History and Background of the Artwork.
Before we start learning the history of the artwork, let’s first move on to the place it is held, Museo di San Marco. In addition to being a Renaissance structure, this religious building is a shrine to the artist’s work. The artist gave it a form of decoration with zeal and emotion, characterizing his finest efforts. Hence, the first thing we study is the Museo di San Marco.
Upon entering the shrine, you are immediately attracted to the Christ on the Cross With Saint Dominic, which can be found at the end of the corridor and opposite the main entrance, a magnificent representation of dignity with a pitiable expression.
Over the doors, you will find five exquisite lunettes, out of which one Sacristy door is Saint Peter Martyr, which indicates the rule of silence. On the walls of the refectory stands Christ with the wounded prints, his head and face of wondrous beauty, while over the doors to the Foresteria, or guesthouse, stands the lunette of Christ as a pilgrim and Saint Thomas Aquinas over another wall. The following are the scenes that you can see:
- Noli me tangere
- The Entombment
- The Annunciation
- The Crucifixion
- The Madonnas and Saint Joseph Adoring the Divine Child.
- The Transfiguration
- The Buffeting of Christ.
- The Resurrection
- The Coronation of the Virgin
- The Presentation in the Temple
- The Madonna and Child With Saint Francis and Saint Dominic.
Coming to the history and provenance of the painting, in the year 1441, Fra Angelico received the commission to paint a large Annunciation that could be visible to all in the lay brothers’ corridor and opposite the opening of a staircase linking the dormitory story with the walkway below. Therefore, he decided to pierce through the corner range containing the friars’ cell with a wide fictive window, whose jambs, sills, and lintel were painted to look like pietra serena. Furthermore, enclosing a window, he depicted a loggia of slender columns with an opening onto a garden of flowers. It made friars and visitors admire and enter into the world of fresco with an experience of the space and time of the event as if the incarnation were real and immediately present.
Annunciation (Fra Angelico) was centered purposefully so that the outer left edge of the penultimate column of the loggia meets the center of the fictive frame window and the stairway through which the painting is first seen. Thus, he sacrificed the right third bay of the loggia but depicted a garden and woods beyond it on the left. Using a compositionally dynamic high horizon line and a lateral vanishing point within the cell window, the artist desired to provide the viewer with the maximum area of the light-filled loggia and highlight the light diffusion.
How Was the Annunciation by Fra Angelico Made?
Now, let me tell you how Fra Angelico painted the famous Annunciation of San Marco. So, once he prepared colors, he used to divide the surface into giornata. At first, he used to paint the background of the upper part of the fresco, and then the artist executed the capitals in the middle zone, finally completing the loggia on successive days. The bays, mounted frontally, have semicircular arches with unmodelled capitals topped by shafts with marked entasis. As in the cloister, their sides are foreshortened and recede in perspective, with arches and vaults resting on ionic capitals. This way, he successfully formed a grandeur of the composition, along with the humility and expressiveness of the Virgin’s glory and innocence.
Understanding the Meaning of Fra Angelico’s Annunciation.
The compositional meaning is simple—Gabriel announces to Mary that she is God’s choice for the birth of Christ.
Let us read Luke 1:28-33 to understand the entire story. It says,
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee.
27. to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.
29. Mary was greatly troubled by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
30. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God.
31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33. And he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.
34. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35. The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
36. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.
38. I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
The artist portrayed this narration in his altarpiece, Annunciation (Fra Angelico).
Subject Matter Analysis of the Renaissance Masterpiece.
It is finally time to carefully analyze the Annunciation painting by Fra Angelico and understand all the elements within it. I am breaking down the components, as it will make your reading uncomplicated.
1. Angel Gabriel.
Bowing in homage, Gabriel is the angel with magnificent variegated wings, painted in terre verte, white, red, and yellow ochres, seeming motionless. He wears a tunic that is rich, caput mortuum-colored mixed with red ochres, edged and embroidered with gold, falling from the shoulder and gathered in wide folds at the waist. The tunic is further brightly illuminated at the back and touches the ground in light-angled folds, drawing in such a way that there is slight friction with the marble floor. He looks almost childlike, which makes him look innocent. With his hands crossed over his chest, lit by a diffused radiance, the flesh is in lighter tones and illuminated by white and soft pinkish ochres. With half-closed eyelids, he has an expression of a smile and reassurance. The artist wanted to eliminate the extraneous detail, covering the two capitals of the two columns by Gabriel’s wings.
2. Mary.
In her gaze, the Virgin accepts the archangel’s presence and prepares herself to welcome the Holy Spirit. Sitting on a simple stool in front of her room, she sits with the view of a garden. She is slightly bent in the forward direction as she brings her hand up to her breast. With a diaphanous complexion on her face, she looks holy and innocent. She wears a tunic with the same ochre shade as the loggia, eliminating the use of any more pigments.
3. Background.
The background of Annunciation (Fra Angelico) shows a large altarpiece with curved carvings in the structure, heavier columns, and a garden. Using architecture in the painting, the artist distinguishes between beauty and ornament with harmonious proportion. The columns hold an ancillary decorative feature of the building.
He showed an iconography with an arcaded loggia, the Virgin, and the archangel in the center of bays, a garden, and wood. It is because of the message of humble obedience of Mary, which means the fulfillment of the incarnation, the source of redemption and deliverance from original sin. Hence, the artist’s emphasis on the corridor is due to the theological virtue of charity infused by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The Annunciation (Fra Angelico) of Cortona, Tuscany.
The Annunciation of Cortona was painted for San Domenico, Cortona, and was transferred in the nineteenth century to the Gesù. Being one of the greatest Florentine paintings, it shows the conversation between the Virgin Mary and Saint Gabriel with the exceptionally beautiful gold work on their clothing. Behind this holy scene, the artist painted the expulsion of Adam and Eve on the leftmost background. Beneath a loggia, which is closed on the two sides by Brunelleschi’s columns and arcaded walls, the Virgin closes her hands on her breast and leans forward from the golden throne she sits on. She recites the words of St. Luke, which are inscribed in golden words. She says,
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”
Replying to this, the angel says,
“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.”
Furthermore, a golden dove hovers over the Virgin’s head.
The painting differs from the Annunciation of San Marco, as in the latter, the scene is split between two panels, there is a presence of illusionistic space in the architecture, differences in the poses of the two figures, and a sharper tonality.
Formal Analysis of the Painting Annunciation by Fra Angelico.
1. Line.
Annunciation (Fra Angelico) shows horizontal lines mainly through the gaze of Mary at the angel Gabriel and the boundary of the garden, signifying stability. It also leads the eyes around the composition and communicates the information through character and direction. Further, there are vertical lines in the form of pillars and doorways, which suggest spirituality and a rising beyond human reach toward the heavens. There are also circular lines that sense a soft environment, recalling energy. However, the wings of the angel are positioned as diagonal lines connecting to the upper corner of the right side.
2. Light and Value.
The artist composed this artwork with a higher intensity and brightly illuminated surfaces. There is lightness in the artwork, which does not include shadows over the figures and parts of the background. However, the garden has darker values, contrasting coordinately with the illuminance of the central figures on the canvas.
3. Color.
The artist used contrasting bright colors, such as yellow and red ochres, for subtle beauty on the canvas. Due to the presence of warmer colors, it creates relaxation for the viewer’s eyes.
Final Words.
Truly, Fra Angelico painted the most spiritual form during the Early Renaissance. Among all his noble works, this painting, defined as the Annunciation (Fra Angelico), remained a favorite of many hearts. From the early use of perspective to the use of yellow and golden ochres and the use of bright illuminance throughout the artwork, this painting is not only a symbolic representation of the divine narrative but also a mark of divinity. His painting is saintly because he never took up his brush without praying intently. Hence, the compositions he painted had harmonious colors with forms of grace and gentleness.
In my opinion, the painting looks more structured with less freedom due to the heavy imposition of religion. Somewhere, I think that due to less expressiveness, which we saw in periods after the Baroque, the Renaissance was too perfect for religion. In a way, when we see this painting, there is just one thought—prayer! The frozen figures consist of sculptural value, due to which no action or drama is witnessed. Hence, though the painting is curated with the right linear perspective and an architectural value, there is absolutely no emotion other than holiness.
Resources.
- Featured Image: The Annunciation by Fra Angelico; Fra Angelico, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari.
- Fra Angelico: The San Marco Frescoes by Paolo Morachiello.
- Fra Angelico by George Charles Williamson.
- Fra Angelico by Douglas, R. Langton (Robert Langton).
Frequently Asked Questions.
Annunciation (Fra Angelico) is a biblical fresco from the Early Renaissance that portrays Angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that God has chosen her for the birth of Christ, as mentioned in Luke 1:28-33.
Religious painting, Early Renaissance.
Fra Angelico’s Annunciation in San Marco fulfilled the purpose of decorating the religious place alongside several scenes from the Bible. The fresco aimed to grab attention and let the friars and visitors admire the beautiful depiction as soon as they entered the space.
The Annunciation by Fra Angelico resides in the Museo di San Marco and measures 230 x 321 cm.
Fra Angelico was known for his religious depictions and painted several Annunciations throughout his life. A few of these are the Annunciation of Museo di San Marco, the Annunciation of Cortana, the Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi, and the Annunciation of San Domenico.
Related Reads.
