There is a single word for this painting: BREATHTAKING

Look carefully at the figures and the details.

Reading left to right: a man with a red robe and staff (Sant’ Ansanus); a kneeling angel with an olive branch; a script embossed across the background; a vase with white lilies; a maiden, shrinking into her chair, a book in her hand; a standing woman holding a cross (Santa Margaret) ; a Gothic arcade with the Holy Spirit (the presence of God) as an awaiting dove in the sunburst and four medallions of saints at the top with the central medallion missing an image ; a marble floor, rich Mongolian fabrics, spires resembling the top of a building, and an elaborately restored (19th c.) wooden and gold leaf frame representing the spiritual realm of heaven.

The style is International Gothic. It is a courtly style of the late Gothic 13^th to 15^th c., rayonnant and flamboyant in light and wealth, and typically French.

It is a style of elegant line and gesture and great detail. 

It was popular in cathedrals and chapels (Sainte-Chapelle, Paris) and in book illuminations (Les Tres Riches Heures by the Limbourg Brothers.)

Simone Martini (1284-1344), referred to as Simone, was from Siena but much of his employment was by the French kings of Naples and Sicily and the papacy in Avignon.

This altarpiece was commissioned by the Siena Cathedral for the Chapel of Sant’ Ansanus. Lippo Memmi (1291-1356), brother-in-law of Simone, painted the two side panels.

“The Annunciation”……

Mary was a young Jewish girl, probably poor, about 15 years old, who lived in Nazareth in Galilee. She was a virgin. The angel, Gabriel, approaches her and kneels as a sign of respect, honor or custom, and says “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women,” or in another translation: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” The Latin script embossed in the painting is “Ave Maria Gratia Plenum Dominus Tecum.”

Gabriel’s announcement is told only in the Gospel of Luke: Chapter 1:26-38. It is recorded that she will bear the Son of the God, and that He will be conceived by the Holy Spirit and will reign over the house of Israel forever.

This dramatic moment is only the “Greeting”.

Simone has chosen the moment of Gabriel’s arrival. At this moment Mary is unaware of the details of conception. Gabriel is here, however, to prepare her to receive the Holy Spirit.

Who is this intruder? Would you recognize an angel?

How do you interpret Mary’s response?

Surprise.

Suspicion

Shock.

Fear.

Madness.

How would you respond?

Would you welcome “him” and later say “YES?”

Or hang up the phone, delete the message, call the police, scream for the neighbors? Faint?

Simone has shown us a precise moment and Mary’s immediate response. As she grasps the almost falling Book of Daily Prayers, her thumb tucked in, she jerks back in her chair, her mantel still flows as she attempts to cover her face. She withdraws, her mouth tightly closed in a downturn frown. Her uncomfortable pose registers modesty, shyness, alarm and fear.

And Gabriel, an androgynous, glowing representative of the heavenly realm, has just landed, his wings still trembling and his cape flapping, his head and neck extended forward, his mouth parted as he speaks the holy words of address. He holds a symbol of peace, an olive branch, that he extends to her, raising his right hand in a blessing as he points upwards to the heavenly realm and to the awaiting Holy Spirit. His head is crowned with another branch. The vase of lilies is a symbol of purity usually associated with the Virgin.

He has the demeanor of a suitor, a caller, on his knee with a proposal.

Remember: she is yet to hear of her divine conception. This is just the greeting. But when she does, she says: “How can this be, seeing as I know not a man.”

Europe, the years between 1330 and 1435, was devastated by the Black Death of 1348, and the Hundred Years War between England and France, ending in 1453. The Great Schism of the Catholic Church, in which the papacy was moved to Avignon, opened a critical path for the Protestant Reformation.

Yet, the southern regions of Europe, particularly Spain and Italy, were embraced in Catholicism, and their art centered on the portrayal of the sacred and the holy. There was a revival of Greco-Roman culture that resulted in a marrying of antiquity and Christianity. The Renaissance, this “rebirth”, turned away from the supernatural and the superstitions of the medieval world. Not only the Church but wealthy bankers and merchants supported the arts. Artists now studied naturalism, dissected cadavers in academies, and competed for large commissions. They were respected as intellectuals, not just craftsmen.

Look at this later painting of “The Annunciation”.

Think about how the two representations of the Annunciation are different.

For most people it is THIS image of “The Annunciation” by Fra Angelico that comes to mind.

Fra (brother/friar) Angelico, called Giovanni da Fiesole but born Guido di Pietro, yet referred to as the “angelic brother”, was born in the Florentine countryside. The fresco was painted between 1440 and 1445. It was one of many frescos and manuscripts created by Fra Angelico in and for the Dominican convent of San Marco in the north of Florence. It is on the first floor, at the top of the stairs leading to the dormitories, a private area only for the monks. The fresco is a devotional reminder of the miracle that God created. It is reverent, quiet, graceful, soft, and simple. There is no drama, no hint of monarchy or glitz. There is a minimum of detail.

It takes place in a beautiful, arched portico, a garden cloister, similar to the architecture of San Marco.

The Virgin and the Gabriel are separated by an architectural column, perhaps a separation of the worldly and heavenly beings.

Mary is sitting, hands crossed, reverent, submissive, maybe protective, but relaxed. She is without her prayer book. Her dress and mantel are graciously arranged as if expecting company. She is not a peasant. Nor does she seem surprised. She crosses her heart.

Is she already aware that it is SHE, who God trusts, to provide the nourishment for the humanity of Jesus, His own Son?

Gabriel is starting to kneel, his hands clasped at his chest also, over his heart. This crossing is a sign of the Cross that Fra Angelico knows well. Both figures are slightly bowing and both are haloed (as were Simone’s .) If we read their postures, both seem aware of this sacred message.

There is an inscription on the front edge, a reminder to the Monks: “As you venerate, while passing before it, this figure of the intact Virgin, beware lest you omit to say a Hail Mary”.

Notice the open door. What could it mean?

How do you interpret this scene?

What verses of Luke do you believe that Fra Angelico has portrayed in this scene?

Simone was an artist who carried the Medieval perspective of Mary as regal, Queen of Heaven, into his altarpiece. Fra Angelico’s “Annunciation” was painted after the cultural and intellectual observance of the advancements of the Renaissance.

Do you favor one painting over the other?

Just an interesting note: Gabriel, the Annunciation angel, was struck dumb by God until the birth of Christ.