ANGELICO, Fra
(b. ca. 1400, Vicchio nell Mugello, d. 1455, Roma)

The Annunciation

1430-32
Tempera on wood, 154 x 194 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Annunciation is the main painting on the altarpiece known as the Prado Altarpiece. The central image repeats a design Fra Angelico also used in an Annunciation in Cortona and in another at the head of the stairs to the dormitory of his monastery, San Marco in Florence. The new Renaissance command of architectural perspective accompanies a continuing medieval delight in the lavish use of gilding.