Fra Angelico, The Annunciation and Life of the Virgin (in the predella), c. 1426, tempera on wood, 194 x 194 cm (Museo del Prado, Madrid)
The Annunciation is described in the Gospel According to Luke 1:26 – 38. Here is the King James translation:
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name [was] Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, [thou that art] highly favoured, the Lord [is] with thee: blessed [art] thou among women. And when she saw [him], she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
[0:00] [music]
Dr. Steven Zucker: [0:03] We’re in the Prado in Madrid, and we’re looking at Fra Angelico’s “Annunciation.” Now, the “Annunciation” by Fra Angelico that most people are familiar with is a fresco that’s in San Marco in Florence. This is a painting that was made for a church not far from Florence.
Dr. Beth Harris: [0:20] In Fiesole.
Dr. Zucker: [0:21] It is extraordinary in that the frame is original, and so not only do you have the main panel, but you’ve got the predella underneath, with all of its original framing elements. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen that.
Dr. Harris: [0:33] These things were often taken apart and sold in pieces.
[0:38] We have an Old Testament scene of Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden, or the Expulsion, by an angel. Actually, that scene is joined to the Annunciation scene because in the upper left, we see the hands of God releasing this divine light and a dove which you can see just to the left…
Dr. Zucker: [0:59] The Holy Spirit, right?
Dr. Harris: [0:59] …of the column, which is the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Zucker: [1:01] We have, actually, the fall and the reason for Christ’s existence.
Dr. Harris: [1:05] Adam and Eve as the precursors to Mary and Christ. The man and woman who cause the fall from grace, and Mary and Christ who make salvation possible.
Dr. Zucker: [1:15] Then we have God the Father looking down in an almost classical relief sculpture in the center, just above that column. The predella below is a very condensed series of scenes of the life of the Virgin Mary from her birth to her marriage to Joseph, the Visitation…
Dr. Harris: [1:34] Through to her death.
Dr. Zucker: [1:34] Through to her death, that’s right. They are really meant in a sense [as] the literal support for this later story. Stylistically, I think one of the things that I find quite important is the sort of sense of quiet and solemnity that Fra Angelico was able to achieve.
[1:52] You have the angel who is bowing below Mary. His hands are crossed, which is this kind of symbol of respect, of prayer. Mary reflects that with her own hands.
[2:04] I’m really taken by the density of the Garden of Eden. All of that fruit, those flowers. Wonderful anti-perspectival field of flowers below the feet. Then you have this piece of stark architecture. They are both too large for the space that they occupy.
Dr. Harris: [2:22] Oh, absolutely. I think if Mary were to stand up she would hit her head on the ceiling.
Dr. Zucker: [2:26] I think so, but none of that is really important, because this is a kind of reverential and invented exploration of beauty as a way of representing the divine.
Dr. Harris: [2:37] This is painted contemporaneous with Massaccio painting the Brancacci Chapel. We have two radically different approaches going on in Florence at the same time.
[2:46] That’s a good reminder that not everything in the Renaissance is this linear movement toward naturalism, but this variety of styles.
Dr. Zucker: [2:56] Whereas Massaccio was looking for a very almost mathematically accurate rendering, here we see an artist who’s looking to celebrate the decorative as a way of expressing the moral and the spiritual.
Dr. Harris: [3:08] If you look, there’s no cast shadows, there’s not that intense modeling that we see with Massaccio. There’s not a lot of specificity to the faces and individuality in the faces.
Dr. Zucker: [3:18] But there is specificity to the decorative. Look at the wings of the angel, for example…
Dr. Harris: [3:23] Or the gilding of their halos.
Dr. Zucker: [3:25] Or just the foliage in the garden. It’s quite sumptuous, isn’t it?
Dr. Harris: [3:33] It is.
[3:35] [music]
