Artwork
The Angel of the Annunciation
The Angel of the Annunciation is a tempera painting by the Sienese School artist Simone Martini. It dates from 1330 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
An angel with wings, holding a flower, stands in a richly decorated room, solemnly dressed. Painted around 1330, Simone Martini's panel uses fine detail to tell its scene from the Bible.
Subject & Meaning
Classified as religious art, the work's primary subject is the moment of divine incarnation.
Created around 1330 by Simone Martini, this tempera panel depicts the Annunciation, the foundational event in Christian theology where the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive the Son of God. Classified as religious art, the work's primary subject is the moment of divine incarnation. The painting functions as a devotional object representing the intersection of the divine and human realms, consistent with its genre and intended spiritual context within the 14th century.
Technique & Style
Simone Martini executed The Angel of the Annunciation around 1330 using tempera on a poplar panel support. The painting is relatively small, measuring 31 by 22 centimeters. As a work of religious art from the early 14th century, it employs the traditional medium of tempera, pigment bound with egg yolk, allowing for precise linear handling and luminous, unblended color fields characteristic of the Sienese school.
The poplar wood panel provides a stable, rigid base for the delicate tempera application, a standard support for Italian panel paintings of this period.
History & Provenance
The Angel of the Annunciation, a tempera on poplar panel by Simone Martini, was created around 1330. The work first entered the English aristocracy through Charles John Canning, 2nd Viscount Canning, whose family label appears on the reverse of the panel. It then passed to his sister Harriet Canning de Burgh, to her daughter Margaret Anne de Burgh Beaumont, and to her son Wentworth Canning Blackett Beaumont, 1st Viscount Allendale.
The painting later entered the collection of Lionello Venturi, was sold in 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and was gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1939.
Before the Canning family owned it, the panel reportedly belonged to Henry George Charles Lascelles, the 6th Earl of Harewood, at Harewood House in Leeds. The work is now held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., within the Samuel H. Kress Collection.
Overview
The Angel of the Annunciation is a tempera painting on poplar panel, created by the Italian artist Simone Martini around 1330. This work depicts a key figure from the biblical narrative of the Annunciation, a moment of profound religious significance. Martini's careful execution and attention to detail characterize this early Renaissance piece, offering insight into the artistic practices and devotional art of the fourteenth century.
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