Frame painted with the annunciation, the baptism of Christ, the entry into Jerusalem, the Saints Cecilia and Catharina, and 4 angels making music by Giovanni di Francesco
In Florence around 1450, Giovanni di Francesco painted this frame for someone's private prayer. It now sits in the Rijksmuseum. Inside: the Annunciation, the Baptism, and Saints Cecilia and Catherine, a story of salvation in eight compartments.
Look for the flat, linear modeling of early Renaissance tempera. Bright figures contrast with dark wood. Angels make music in the upper panels. Saint Cecilia sits at the organ. Catherine of Alexandria is here too, the scholar-martyr.
The patron is unknown. The chain of ownership before the Rijksmuseum is lost. Giovanni di Francesco worked in Florence and died in 1459, at forty-seven. For over five centuries, this frame passed through hands whose names we will never know.
The object survived. The maker and first owner did not. What is it to hold a thing made for another's prayer, five centuries after both have gone?
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Transcript
Around 1450, someone in Florence commissioned this for private prayer. The Annunciation. Gabriel brings the news to Mary. These panels tell one story: salvation, from birth to resurrection. Saint Cecilia, patroness of music, at the organ. Catherine of Alexandria, the scholar-martyr. The painter died nine years later. He was forty-seven.