Angel of the Annunciation

Artist Alvaro Pirez (active 1411-1434)

DateEarly 1420s

MediumTempera and gold on wood

DimensionsFrame: 58 1/2 H x 20 1/4 W x 3 9/16 D in. (148.6 x 51.5 x 9 cm) (max)
Unframed support: 32 3/16 H x 16 7/16 W x 1 7/8 D in. (81.7 x 41.7 x 4.8 cm) (max, est.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936

Object numberSN10

Heralding Christ's birth, the Archangel Gabriel appears to the Virgin. The figures' stylized poses and gestures, the textiles' decorative patterning, and the liberal use of bold colors and gold are longstanding conventions of early Italian painting. The figures' weightiness and their elegantly draped garments, however, demonstrate the artist's burgeoning modernity. Observe, for example, the Archangel's robe falling in realistic yet gracefully curving folds over his solidly bended knee. These panels once crowned a large altarpiece, now dismembered and dispersed.

On View

On view

Location

Museum of Art, Gallery 04, Wall East

Collections

Bibliography

Suida 1949, nos. 10, 11. Steinweg 1957, pp. 48–50. Berenson 1932, p. 166. Fredericksen and Zeri 1972, pp. 635. Fremantle 1975, p. 438. Frinta 1976, pp. 35, 45, 47. Tomory 1976, no. 28. Frinta 1998, pp. 402, 417. Lisbon 1994, p. 101. Ormond and De Groft 1997, p. 86. Lucca 1998, pp. 282, 417. Athens 2002, pp. 122-25.