The Annunciation, Fra Angelico

Description of the picture:

The Annunciation – Fra Angelico. C. 1435-1445   In terms of construction, this picturesque panel (c. 1435-1445) exactly coincides with the famous fresco Annunciation painted by Fra Angelico in the late 1430s. for the convent of San Marco in Florence. An angel in the brightest outfit humbly bowed his head, greeting the Virgin, whose blue vestment symbolizes the heavenly role that fell to her lot. A sense of harmony is created from the symmetrically crossed arms of the Virgin and the archangel Gabriel, despite the columns separating the angel and the Virgin. On the left side of the canvas, another angel watches the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden after their fall – the incarnation of God in Christ is called to atone for this sin. The theme of Mary as the 2nd Eve, gaining what the first lost, was very widespread in medieval painting. Herald of spring and modern life is the swallow.   ANNUNCIATION. Usually Mary is portrayed either seated or kneeling, usually with a lily – the emblem of purity, lost in thought or reading a holy book, the Old Testament, with the prediction: “Behold the Virgin in the womb will receive and bear the Son.” From time to time, you can see God’s right hand sending a ray of light, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove."