17-Martini-Annunciation

Nicholas Lochoff (4.1948) after

Simone Martini (Sienese, c. 1284.1344)
ANNUNCIATION

Original (1333) in the Uffizi Florence Tempera on wood panel

Perhaps Simone's best known work the original was the central part of an altarpiece for Siena Cathedral. The angel Gabriel's words are ^-Ave gratia plena dominus tecum" (Luke 1;28), meaning Hail thou art full of grace, the Lord is with thee." The plaid cloak Gabriel wears billows in suggestion of a sudden arrival Mary pulls away, uncertain of how to react to his words, as the Gospel suggests. Sirnone here accomplished the interaction between figures and movement that the artists of the Renaissance would strive to achieve. In contrast, the gold background of gilded gesso would disappear in the later period In favor of more realistic settings. Lochoff reproduced the original's tempera paint. a pigment mixed with egg yolk that was a forerunner of oil paint.