
Annunciation (Martini)
Gabriel's greeting runs toward Mary in raised gold letters and she twists away from it, her thumb still caught in her book.

Gabriel's greeting runs toward Mary in raised gold letters and she twists away from it, her thumb still caught in her book.

Fra Angelico frescoed it at the top of the dormitory stairs, so the friars met it every time they climbed to their cells.

Gabriel bows to Mary under the loggia while Adam and Eve are driven out of the garden at the left, the sin this undoes.

An early work, and Mary's right arm reaches further than an arm can. Gabriel's wings were studied from a real bird.

Gilded hems, fluttering wings, a walled garden behind. Lippi was a friar with a worldly streak and it shows in the ornament.

Gabriel kneels at the right and points across at a Virgin drawing back in surprise, with a stretch of classical ruin between them.

This is only the angel. Mary received the message on a companion panel, and the two now hang together as a pair.