The Annunciation by Fra Angelico.

Painting

The Annunciation

The Annunciation

The Annunciation

Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico

About the artwork

Gabriel and Mary face one another beneath a spare arcade, with the scene stripped down to silence, humility, and obedience. The architecture gives the sacred event a calm human setting, while the enclosed garden suggests purity and the beginning of salvation history. Painted for a Dominican convent, the work was meant to slow the viewer down and make prayer feel visual.

ARTWORK DETAILS

c. 1440–1445

Early Renaissance

Convent of San Marco

Florence

Fra Angelico / Convent of San Marco