Today, art historian Claudio Sagliocco will lead us to the discovery of another masterpiece for a new Menarini – Pills of Art video: Annunciation by Simone Martini.

This painting in tempera and gold on panel was commissioned for the Altar of St. Ansano in the Cathedral of Siena, and dates back to 1333. It is currently preserved in the beautiful Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Watch the video:

The panel is dominated by the figures of the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel, who has just descended from heaven to announce the Good News – as a matter of fact, we can see his wings spread and his robes still fluttering. In one hand, The Archangel is holding an olive branch, a symbol of peace, and with the other he’s pointing at the Holy Ghost’s dove, watching over them surrounded by eight cherubs.

Anticipating the birth of comic strips by several hundred centuries, the words “Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum” come out of the archangel’s mouth, and are intertwined with the flowers of an extremely realistic and detailed vase of lilies.

Mary, startled out of her reading, is looking at the archangel with a frightened expression, clutching her blue cloak.

The space around the figures is both flattened and dominated by the golden background, symbolizing the divine light that floods everything: the polychrome marble floor is the only element that gives an earthly dimension to the scene.

Saints Ansanus and Maxima witness the Annunciation in the side columns of the triptych.

This extraordinary masterpiece is characterized by a refined and linear style that anticipates the courtly Gothic of Gentile da Fabriano by a century, and at the same time echoes the elegance of the miniature style. It was precisely this unique style that earned Simone Martini an invitation to join the entourage of Italian painters at the papal court in Avignon.