The Annunciation of Cortona is a panel-painting altarpiece or retable

Retable

A retable is a framed altarpiece, raised slightly above the back of the altar or communion table, on which are placed the cross, ceremonial candlesticks and other ornaments....

 by Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...

: once housed in the Church of Gesù of Cortona

Cortona

Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.-History:...

, it is now held at the Diocesan Museum in the same city.

History

The Annunciation of Cortona was painted by Fra Angelico in 1433-1434, in tempera on panel, 175 cm x 180 cm.

This is one of three Annunciations by Fra Angelico on the table (the other two are the in the Prado Museum, and the Museo della Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, in San Giovanni Valdarno

San Giovanni Valdarno

San Giovanni Valdarno is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, central Italy, located in the valley of the Arno River. It was originally called Castel S. Giovanni....

. Two others, in fresco, are found in the convent of San Marco, Florence

San Marco, Florence

San Marco is the name of a religious complex in Florence, Italy. It comprises a church and a convent. The convent, which is now a museum, has three claims to fame: during the 15th century it was home to two famous Dominicans, the painter Fra Angelico and the preacher, Girolamo Savonarola...

, at the top of the access stairs and the third cell.

There are also scenes of the theme combined with Adoration of the Magi at the Museum San Marco, and a diptych in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria

Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria

The Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria is the Italian national paintings collection of Umbria, housed in the Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia, in central Italy. Its collection comprises the greatest representation of the Umbrian School of painting, ranging from the 13th to the 19th century, strongest in the...

.

Theme

The scene is typical of Christian iconography, "The Annunciation to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel", is described in the Gospels and in great detail in The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine

Jacobus de Voragine

Blessed Jacobus de Varagine or Voragine was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author, or more accurately the compiler, of Legenda Aurea, the Golden Legend, a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church that was one of the most popular...

, the reference book of painters of the Renaissance, which can be represented in all its symbolic (walled garden column, the presence of the Holy Spirit, an evocation of Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise).

Description

This work is the main panel of a polyptych work, which includes a multi predella panels with scenes from the Life of the Virgin at the same Annunciazione di San Giovanni Valdarno:

• Marriage of the Virgin,
• Adoration of the Magi,
• Presentation in the Temple,
• Dormition.

They are also attributed to Zanobi Strozzi, an assistant of Fra Angelico.

On the left, the scene of invoking the original sin

Original sin

Original sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...

, is consistent with the principles of the Christian iconography of the painting: the pair of Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise is situated outside the walled garden of Mary, set off on a hill beyond a fence.

Conversely from other Annunciations of Fra Angelico, the vanishing point of perspective is in focus monofocal the left of the table.

External links

• "Annonciation de Cortone", French wikipedia