Annunciation (Martini)

The angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive the son of God (Luke 1:26-38). Simone Martini shows Gabriel alighting with his cloak still rippling, offering an olive branch, his greeting running in raised gold letters toward her; Mary shrinks back, twisting away with her thumb caught in her book, alarmed and reluctant - one of the most psychologically vivid Madonnas of the age. A vase of lilies, symbol of her purity, stands between them. Painted with Lippo Memmi for Siena Cathedral, it is the supreme masterpiece of the elegant, linear Sienese Gothic.