You can find the most outstanding works of 13th century artist Pietro Cavallini right where he put them in the 13th century: in the churches of Rome (and elsewhere!). This Annunciation is in the splendid church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in the charming neighborhood "across the Tiber" where you care always sure to find a good meal, and where the Community of Sant' Egidio has their headquarters.
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| Annunciation, Pietro Cavallini; Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere (Rome) |
This good-sized devotional Annunciation (almost 20 inches tall!) in polychrome terracotta is from the collection of the Princeton Museum of Art.
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| 17th Century Italian Annunciation in terracotta Princeton University Art Museum. Bequest of Mrs. George McClellan. |
I can't get enough of Renaissance Annunciations, even if this year I haven't found too many that haven't already been featured on this blog. Well, guess what? I just found a new source! So here we go, back to Renaissance Italy, one of my favorite art spots in the whole world.
You can see this Annunciation by Benedetto Bonfigli in full resolution glory on the website of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid) where the original is part of the collection.
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The Annunciation, Benedetto Bonfigli ca. 1455Tempera and gold on panel. 51 x 36.5 cm Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Earlier in the year, The Angelus Project featured two other Annunciations by the Indonesian artist Nyoman Darsane. Darsane, a convert to Christianity, uses the "language" of Balinese culture to express Gospel motifs. See more of his work at the blog Indigenous Jesus.
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| Annunciation, by Nyoman Darsane. |
According to the website of the Princeton University Museum of Art (emphases by me!):
Scholars attribute this Annunciation and eleven related scenes of the Nativity and Passion of Christ to Guido da Siena. Along with a central panel, they formed an altarpiece that was later dismantled. Together in Badia Ardegna in the nineteenth century, the panels are now in museums in Altenburg, Paris, Siena, Utrecht, and Princeton. The Annunciation came from the upper-left corner of the altarpiece. The Virgin stands in an enclosed garden near a tower—symbols of her purity taken from the Song of Songs. As the archangel Gabriel rushes toward her in an unusual running pose, she shrinks back in fear. In 1999, frescoes made around the same time, including an Annunciation closely related to the Princeton panel, were found in the crypt of the Siena Cathedral. This discovery supports the hypothesis that the panels from Badia Ardegna were originally part of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the cathedral.
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| Annunciation, Guido da Siena; Princeton University Museum of Art Image from Wikimedia Commons |
