Diptych with the Annunciation
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 13 x 18 cm h x w x d: Ram 24 x 30 x 4 cm
Inventory numberNM 5352
Other titlesTitle (sv): Diptyk med Bebådelsen Title (en): Diptych with the Annunciation
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 144: TECHNICAL NOTES: The support consists of two pentagonal hardwood boards that have been joined together. The size is probably not original; the edges of the panels seem to be cropped. Tool marks are visible on the verso and old areas of damage (holes) in the panel have been filled with a mixture of sawdust and glue. The gesso ground is white, with a layer of red bole under the gilding. The original paint layer and gilding are abraded. Parts of the painting have been overpainted, such as the Virgin’s mantle. Craquelure has been painted on top of the background. IR reflectography reveals distinct underdrawing. The diptych is now displayed in a box lined with velvet, probably from the beginning of the 20th century. PROVENANCE: Bertha Stenman; purchased 1956. BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1958, p. 230 (as anonymous, 13th century); NM Cat. 1990, p. 415 (as anonymous, 13th century). This small diptych depicts the moment when the Archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin that she is to bear the Son of God. Gabriel approaches Mary from the left (Mary’s right), raising his right hand and delivering the message. In his left hand he carries a thin red staff, and he is dressed in a light blue garment and a pale cloak, both accentuated with white highlights. The Virgin is seated on a red cushion on a throne, incised into the gilded background surrounding the figures. She is dressed in a blue robe and holds a book with a red cover, which by convention is supposed to be the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14): “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. The composition follows a type established already in the early 13th century and has much in common with the small Annunciation pieces by the Maestro di Greve, the mosaics in the ceiling of the baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence, and the later depictions of the Annunciation by Jacopo Torriti and Pietro Cavallini in Rome. The folds of the archangel’s tunic and the golden highlights of the Virgin’s robe recall the paintings of Guido da Siena (active in the late 13th century). But the Nationalmuseum Annunciation is more static and shows more Byzantine stylization than, for example, Guido’s Annunciation from the cimasa of the Maestà in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, now in Princeton University Art Museum. ¹ Guido da Siena and his followers Rinaldo da Siena and Guido da Graziano were influenced by Cimabue, whose influence may also be detected in the composition of the Nationalmuseum Annunciation.² Infrared radiation reveals some underdrawing and some minor retouches, which are confirmed by ultraviolet light. The original provenance of the diptych is uncertain, but stylistic analysis suggests that it was probably executed in Siena or southern Tuscany in the second half of the 13th century. The diptych may have been commissioned and purchased as a portable piece for private devotion. The unusual format and (secondary) framing indicate an original setting as part of a small retable. It is likely that the two panels were originally separated and formed a pair of shutters to a small triptych, flanking a corpus with a Madonna and Child or a saint, as can be seen in similar retables from Siena and other parts of southern Tuscany.³ A diptych by Paolo Veneziano, dated 1348–50, at the Getty Museum, and a recently discovered triptych by Bartolo di Fredi, dated to c. 1368,⁴ can show us a plausible arrangement and composition, although the latter has later been altered by the addition of two French ivory plaquettes.⁵ je 1 For Guido da Siena, see Stubblebine 1964; La pittura in Italia: Il Duecento e il Trecento, vol. II, Electa, Milan, 1986, pp. 585–586; Chelazzi Dini, Angelini and Sani 1998, pp. 10–17. 2 Chelazzi Dini, Angelini and Sani 1998, pp. 10–17; see also Bellosi 1991a, pp. 6–20; Bellosi 1991b, pp. 15–28; Gordon 2011, pp. 348–355. 3 Seidel et al 2010, pp. 248–249, 356, 364–373. 4 Ibid., pp. 364–365. 5 Ibid.[End]
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword