Leonardo da Vinci Annunciation
The Annunciation (click for large image)
Title: Annunciation
Year: c. 1472-1476
Size: 98 x 217 cm
Medium: Oil and tempera on panel
Location: Uffizi, Florence, Italy
The Annunciation by Leonardo Da Vinci was painted with oil and tempera on a poplar panel. The subject content of Leonardo da Vinci the Annunciation is taken from Luke 1.26 to 39. It depicts the angel Gabriel declaring to Mary that she will miraculously conceive and give birth to a boy named Jesus and referred to as “the Son of God,” whose dominion would never end.
The annunciation was a popular topic for contemporaneous paintings in Christian countries such as Italy, and it had been shown numerous times in Florentine art, including many samples by the Early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico. Details about the painting’s commission and early history are unknown.
The marble table in front of Mary is most likely based on the tomb of Piero and Giovanni De’ Medici in Florence’s Basilica of San Lorenzo, which Verrocchio sculpted around the same time period. The angel is holding a Madonna flower, which represents Mary’s virginity as well as the city of Florence.
It is assumed that Leonardo, a skilled observer of nature, painted the angel’s wings to resemble those of a bird in flight, but the wings were later substantially stretched by another artist.
Why is the Annunciation important?
The Annunciation picture, dated c. 1472-1476, is usually attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is Leonardo’s earliest existing major work, completed in Florence while he was an apprentice in Andrea del Verrocchio’s studio.
The Annunciation (Leonardo da Vinci), a popular biblical subject in 15th-century Florence, was painted in oil and tempera on a huge poplar panel. It has been housed in the Uffizi in Florence. Though the piece has been critiqued for compositional faults, it is one of the most well-known depictions of the Annunciation in Christian art.
In his left hand, the angel carries a Madonna lily. Mary is distinguished by her predominantly blue outfit. The enclosed garden in which Gabriel kneels represents Mary’s virginity. The marble desk or sarcophagus in the center was inspired by Verrocchio’s carving of Piero and Giovanni De’ Medici’s tomb.
Since the fourth century, artists have been depicting the ‘Annunciation.’ It was a common motif in Florentine art. It depicts the moment when the Archangel Gabriel informs the Virgin Mary that she would bear the Son of God.
How old was Leonardo da Vinci when he painted the Annunciation?
Leonardo’s Annunciation painting is one of his foremost works, most likely completed while the artist was still an apprentice at Verrocchio’s workshop. The brightness of the countryside, which softly slopes to the backdrop, blurs the outlines of the mountains and the city visible among the trees.
Painting is a mental act for Leonardo, a method to understand reality and nature. Leonardo’s Annunciation artwork, painted when the artist was probably in his early twenties, shows his fascination with nature and curiosity about global occurrences that Renaissance man was attempting to understand.
