Annunciation

Fra Angelico's Annunciation is an altarpiece painted in tempera and gold on panel, in which the visit of the archangel Gabriel to Mary unfolds within an open marble portico facing a garden. The columns, round arches and blue groined vaults scattered with small gold stars give the setting a sober architecture, reminiscent of Brunelleschi's. Within this frame, the scene is composed with great serenity: the Virgin, seated on the right with a book on her lap, pauses her reading; the angel, dressed in pink with gold stripes, approaches from the opposite side, while a ray of light descends toward her carrying the dove of the Holy Spirit. In the garden, Adam and Eve, clad in animal skins, allude to the Fall and to the salvation brought by Mary's son. The predella, with five scenes from the Virgin's life, completes the narrative. The work combines the meticulous detail of Gothic manuscript painting with a light and colour already Renaissance in character, which is why it is regarded as a transitional piece. Its history, including its time with the duke of Lerma and its arrival at the Prado in 1861, has made it one of the museum's most emblematic works.

Painter

Fra Angelico

Date

1420

Medium

tempera, panel

Dimensions

162 × 192 cm

Museum

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Movement

Italian Renaissance

Genre

religious art

Depicts

Annunciation, Mary, woman, Gabriel, trumpet

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