Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
The Annunciation
StyleRenaissance
GenreReligious
Artwork Details
Where to See It
National Gallery of Umbria (Palazzo dei Priori), PerugiaPerugia, Italy
Permanently housed
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Italian artist Piero della Francesca painted this Annunciation fresco around 1464 as part of his Legend of the True Cross cycle. The scene depicts the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear Christ. Mary appears with monumental dignity, rendered far larger than Gabriel.
The fresco measures 329 by 193 centimeters and remains in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, Italy. Piero worked on the cycle in two stages, completing it in 1466. The subject matter draws from Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend. Despite some fading, the work conveys profound theological meaning through Piero's rational, ordered composition.
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About The Annunciation
This fresco remains in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, Italy. The church's chancel houses Piero's complete Legend of the True Cross cycle, one of the great achievements of Italian Renaissance painting.
The Annunciation belongs to Piero's Legend of the True Cross cycle, illustrating stories from the Golden Legend about the wood of Christ's cross. Piero completed the series between 1452 and 1466.
The fresco exemplifies Early Renaissance ideals of order and clarity. Mary appears monumentally large compared to Gabriel, conveying her majesty and the profound importance of the moment.
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