Sandro Botticelli
Florentine, 1444/45-1510

The Annunciation, 1490-95 ca.
Oil, tempera and gold leaf on walnut panel
19 1/2 x 24 7/16"

Glasgow Museums, Archibald McLellan Collection, purchased 1856
174

COMMENTS

This painting, in tempera (color pigments bound with egg) on wood panel, and painted about 1493, is by the artist Sandro Botticelli – probably with some assistance from members of his workshop. It shows the Annunciation, the moment that the Archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will become the mother of Jesus, God’s son. Gabriel rushes in with the news, which Mary humbly accepts, as we can see from her body language. The scene is set in the style of architecture which was contemporary at the time the picture was painted.

The work is particularly notable for Botticelli’s use of mathematical perspective, which gives an impression of believable three-dimensional depth, even though the image is painted on a flat surface. This effect is particularly noticeable on the left-hand side behind Gabriel, where a colonnade leads to a distant lake and trees. This technique was quite new at the time, and Florentine artists, including Botticelli, were among the first to adopt it. An inscription on the reverse tells us that the painting once hung in the Church of St Barnabas in Florence.

- Glasgow Museums Collections Navigator
http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=166843

One of the most celebrated painters of the Italian Renaissance, Sandro Botticelli was known for his elegant style, eminent patrons, and often lyrical approach to his subject matter. He was trained in the workshop of Fra Filippo Lippi (ca. 1406–1469) and spent much of his career working in his native Florence, with the exception of 1481–82 when he was in Rome painting three frescoes for the Sistine Chapel. Botticelli had numerous wealthy patrons, the most illustrious being the powerful Medici family, who dominated Florentine life and culture.

The dancing figures, swirling draperies, and poetic character of his paintings became most pronounced during the 1470s and 1480s, when he was at the height of his career. This is when Botticelli painted his celebrated allegories, such as the Birth of Venus (1484), which now resides in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Most of his paintings from this period feature religious subject matter, such as the "Annunciation" (pictured here), which includes the same lively figures, animated draperies, and poeticism of Botticelli’s mature style. An inscription on the back indicates that it was originally painted for the Church of San Barnaba in Florence.

- Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums, Milwaukee Art Museum
http://mam.org/of-heaven-and-earth/biographies.php

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

Botticelli is best known for his beautiful painting of the Birth of Venus, the first depiction of a female nude in Italian Renaissance art. But he was a deeply pious man, and this painting is a fine example of his religious art.

The angel Gabriel rushes in from the left to announce to Mary that she will bear the Son of God. Mary accepts her destiny with a gesture of humble submission, as the golden rays above indicate the miraculous passage of the Holy Spirit.

The exquisite linear delicacy of the figures and their ballet-like poses are very distinctive of Botticelli. Less typical is the imposing architecture, which looks suspiciously like a contemporary Florentine palace. With its Doric columns receding sharply into the background, Botticelli shows his skill at one-point perspective, a mathematical system invented in Florence in the 1420s that enables artists to create the convincingly
believable spaces in which the sacred stories come to life.

- Botticelli, Titian, and Beyond, 2015