Beato Angelico - Annunciation (about 1441-43)

 

Annunciation
about 1441-1443
Fresco (187x157 cm)
San Marco Museum, Florence

*******

The Annunciation is one of the simplest stories to read and decode: the Archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive the Son of God. The Virgin accepts in silence.

A character is foreign to the biblical story: Saint Peter Martyr, who prays and observes the scene, almost an invitation for the believer to do the same.

The work of Fra Angelico is characterized by order and simplicity. Despite the apparent rigidity and lack of imagination, his art represents a great change in Florentine art, which contemplated a greater sensitivity in the use of color and light effects.

Beato Angelico is an artist famous for the harmony and mystical inspiration of his paintings. He devoted much of his life to art, so much so that he died while he was painting a private chapel in the Vatican.

Comparing artists: Martini, Piero della Francesca, Tintoretto