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The Annunciation

Creator

Italian Illuminator · 1479–1479

Taddeo Crivelli was one of the illuminators who introduced the Renaissance style into manuscript painting in Ferrara. His first known miniatures date to the early 1450s. In the period roughly coinciding with the rule of Borso d'Este over Ferrara, Crivelli and his workshop were engaged in a number of projects, producing a variety of books for aristocratic patrons as well as for religious institutio

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Date: about 1469
Medium: Tempera colors, gold paint, gold leaf, and ink
Culture: Italian
Department: Manuscripts
Institution: Getty Museum

On a vibrant tile floor of alternating colors, the Virgin Mary kneels within the deep receding space of the chapel. Suddenly she is interrupted at her daily devotions by the angel Gabriel, who announces that she will bear the Messiah. An abbreviated version of Gabriel's words, taken from Luke's Gospel, appears on the top of the frame in classical Roman letters: *Ave gracia plena* (Hail, full of grace). In contrast to the central image's use of perspective to suggest the illusion of depth, the space of the border bursts out into the viewer's space with feats of *trompe l'oeil* illusionism. The putto on the left, wrapped in a swirling scroll of music, pushes his right foot into the viewer's space while his wings overlap the outer frame. Naturalistic elements, including flowers, peacocks, and trees, crowd the border, interspersed with Renaissance heraldic devices with Gualengo's personal mottoes. This miniature of the Annunciation faces the beginning of the text of the service of Matins in the Hours of the Virgin.

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