ANNUNCIATION PIX: Matthew McGuire writes: So all the way back to last Wednesday… you wrote an interesting bit about icons in the context of talking about the new book by FMG. You mentioned an annunciation. The no-brainer recoiling Mary annunciation, the classic rendering, is indeed early renaissance – Simone Maritini’s in 1333. The provenance is Sienese – he never painted in Florence**. You can see it at the Uffizi, or you can see a washed-out photo here.

Martini was grand, a nice balance to the guys in Florence. But.. check out this terrific little-known annunciation from 200 years later. It was painted by Domenico Beccafumi, the self-conscious heir to (among other things) the Sienese spooked-Madonna tradition.

Beccafumi is fantastic, but like Gluck in Vienna, had unfortunate timing – painting along with Michelangleo, Raphael, et al, and in the relative (by that time) backwater of Siena. If you look at his Birth of the Virgin, you’ll see some of Michelangelo’s pallette, but with less monumental figures. And odd Mannerist touches, like the dog and the kid – haha.

Okay, sorry, you’re a busy woman, and I have studying to do. Just didn’t know how many art history graduate students you might have reading, and thought this might be what you’d seen.

God bless,

Matthew McGuire

** ended up, actually, it the Papal court in Avignon, where he became a boon friend of Petrarch.

Eve again: Sadly, neither of these are the picture I referred to in the icon post; but they’re neat nonetheless, and the first one is especially awesome. Thanks!