Sienese school, 17th century, Annunciation

Sienese School, 17th century
Annunciation
Oil on copper, 37.5 x 28.5 cm - 45.5 x 36.5 cm frame

The work in question depicts the Annunciation of the archangel Gabriel to Mary, who is kneeling before the lectern and is revealed by the gesture of the angel, he holds in his hands the lily symbol of the Virgin and its purity. Copper has the stylistic and formal characteristics of the Sienese school of the seventeenth century, such as Ventura Salimbeni, Francesco Rustici, Stefano Volpi and Francesco Vanni. See a copper with similar dimensions and the same setting as the figures, but taken in counterpart, which suggests the existence of a model or an engraving from which the scene is taken. See the Annunciation by Sebastiano Folli (1568-1621) conserved in the Palazzo Vincenti Guastelloni in Siena for the arrangement of the figures and gestures, as can also be seen from another Annunciation frescoed by Folli in 1614 at the Visitation of the Sperandie in Siena. The setting with the announcing angel and the Virgin is already observed in Marco Pino's painting (1505-1587), as the Annunciation in the Ave Gratia Pleana Church in Valle dei Maddaloni, later in the canvas of the same subject by Francesco Vanni (1563-1610) in the Church of SS Flora and Lucilla of Santa Torrita di Siena; finally in the Annunciation by Ventura Salimbeni (1568-1613) preserved in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome dating back to the last decade of the 16th century and that in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The main features of Sienese painting are found in the grace of the features of the florid faces with the characteristic heart shape with the pointed chin and the thin and well-defined physiognomies like the arch of the eyebrows. Note also the drapery, crescent-shaped and well-wrapped on the solid bodies of the characters, and the colors with acid and iridescent hues, such as the straw yellow coat of the announcing Angel.