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The Annunciation

Description: This unusually well-preserved and exquisitely painted altarpiece shows the moment when the archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God. The dialogue between them is inscribed in their haloes. In the spandrel above, David, one of the ancestors of Christ, is painted in his role as the Old Testament prophet. The little garden behind Gabriel is a hortus conclusus (enclosed garden), symbolic of Mary's virginity.

The three predella panels (the painted base of an altarpiece) below this scene depict the birth of the Virgin, her presentation in the Temple, and her death. The less refined figure of David and the predella scenes differ in style from the Annunciation and must have been painted by Stefano di Antonio, who collaborated with Bicci di Lorenzo.

Artist: Stefano di Antonio (Italian, 1405-1483)
Artist: Bicci di Lorenzo (Italian, 1373-1452)
Created: ca. 1430
Medium: tempera and gold leaf on panel
Dimensions: 64 3/4 x 56 15/16 in. (164.4 x 144.7 cm)

Culture: Italian

Period: Renaissance

Country: Italy

Provenance: Stefano Bardini Collection, prior to 1890; Lawrence W. Hodson, Wolverhampton, Compton Hall, England [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Christie's, London, June 25, 1906, no. 187; C. Fairfax-Murray, London and Florence, 1907 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1913, by purchase [Bernard Berenson as agent]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Line: Acquired by Henry Walters, 1913
Accession No. 37.448