Annunciation
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Authors
Unknown Lombard artist
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Annunciation , Gabriel , Mary , Virgin , Annunciate , Angel
Alternative Title
Abstract
This pair of sculptures, currently housed in the Pinacoteca Malaspina in Pavia, forms an Annunciation. The sculptures are in poor condition: the Arcangel Gabriel has lost his hands, a slot in his back was presumably used to attach wings, and, most obviously, the sculptures have lost all except scant traces of the original polychromy -- even the gesso does not survive, and the someonewhat rough surface of the carved wood is exposed. It is not clear whether these were originally full length statues (like those popular in Siena in the trecento and early quattrocento) or were always busts, perhaps for the upper levels of an altarpiece. (Painted stone full-length statues of the Annunciation, very close to Tuscan exemplars, survive in Lombardy in the Chiesa di Villa in Castiglione Olona.) Here the figures are gentle and elegant, in courtly dialog, the angel with great curls of hair and Mary with a fashionably high forehead emphasized by her elaborately braided hair (perhaps initially more modestly covered with an actual fabric veil). Mary leans gently away from the angelic messenger, as if frightened or unsure of her worthiness, but crosses her arms in a gesture of acceptance: "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord." Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Pinacoteca Malaspina, Pavia
Citation
Raffaele Casciaro, La scultura lignea lombarda del Rinascimento (Milan: Skira, 2000), 17, cat. 6, p. 247.