The Annunciation

c. 1445/1450

Fra Carnevale

Painter, Marchigian, active c. 1445 - 1484

On a tiled courtyard between buildings with arches and columns, a winged angel kneels and looks up at a woman standing to our right in this vertical painting. Both people have pale skin, blond hair, and plate-like gold halos at the back of their heads. To our left, the angel wears a silvery-white tunic under a scarlet-red cloak lined with cobalt blue. The wings are fawn brown on the underside, closer to the body, and aquamarine blue on the outside. Gold lines delineate feathers. The angel holds a white lily with two blooms and four buds on a long stem in the hand farther from us, which rests on a bent knee. The other hand is raised in front of the chest. The woman, Mary, stands along the right edge of the painting, her body angled toward the angel. Mary’s long, wavy hair falls to her shoulders, and she wears a lapis-blue robe with a pine-green lining over a red dress. She holds her right hand, farther from us, to her chest and touches the fabric of her cloak with the other, by her hip. The tip of one red shoe peeks out under her voluminous robe. Between the angel and Mary is a stone-white urn with scrolled handles, holding a bouquet of pink and white roses with dark green foliage. The ground is tiled with squares marbled in pale pink, sky blue, rust red, charcoal gray, and brown. Narrow, white panels between the tiles create a grid. The buildings around the pair are fog gray, parchment white, shell pink, or coral red, and are trimmed in black, red, or pink. Rows of arches recede into the square behind the angel and woman, ending at a coral-red wall that encloses the courtyard. An arched doorway in that wall opens onto a pathway leading over a small brook and into a hilly forest. A narrow, conical tree outside the courtyard reaches over the wall, into the vibrant blue sky above. A white dove descends from among the few scattered clouds with golden beams projecting toward the woman to our right.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 4

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 87.6 x 62.8 cm (34 1/2 x 24 3/4 in.)
    framed: 120 x 92.4 x 8.3 cm (47 1/4 x 36 3/8 x 3 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.218

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Prince Ferdinando Lorenzo Strozzi [1821-1878], Florence, by 1857/1858.[1] Louis-Charles Timbal [1821-1880], Paris;[2] sold 1872 with his collection to Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his heirs; sold 1930 with the entire Dreyfus collection to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[3] sold May 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] The painting was seen there by Cavalcaselle probably during his stay in Florence in 1857-1858 (see Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy, from the II to the XVI Century, 3 vols., London, 1864-1866: 1(1864):348; and Donata Levi, Cavalcaselle. Il pioniere della conservazione dell'arte italiana, Turin, 1988: 122-132). Otto Mündler saw the painting at the Palazzo Strozzi in April 1958; see The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855-1858, ed. Carol Togneri Dowd, Walpole Society 51 (1985): 220, 291. Facing economic difficulties in the late 1870s, the family sold the most valuable pieces in the gallery after the death of Prince Ferdinando Lorenzo (see Beatric Paolozzi Strozzi, "Ferdinando Strozzi. Appunti di storia ottocentesca," in Palazzo Strozzi, metà millennio: 1489-1989, Atti del convegno di studi, Firenze, 3-6 luglio 1989, Rome, 1991: 59, and Wilhelm von Bode, Mein Leben, ed. Thomas W. Gaehtgens and Barbara Paul, 2 vols., Berlin, 1997 [original ed. 1930]: 1:131); NGA 1939.1.218, however, must have been sold during his lifetime. Unfortunately, as Dr. Cristina Gelli informed Miklòs Boskovits, the inventory of the Strozzi collection compiled in 1815 by the notary Domenico Del Podestà and deposited at the Archivio di Stato in Florence is now lost.
[2] The painter and collector Timbal must have acquired the painting sometime before 1872 when, during the siege of Paris, he decided to sell his entire collection to Gustave Dreyfus; see Musées Nationaux. Catalogue de la Collection Timbal, Paris, 1882: 5, and Edward Fowles, Memories of Duveen Brothers, London, 1976: 187.
[3] See Fowles 1976: 187, and Dora Landau, "Notes from Abroad," International Studio 96 (August 1930): 65.
[4] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of thirteen paintings and one sculpture, including "an oil painting representing 'The Annunciation' by Francesco Pesellino...Attributed by Mr. Bernhard Berenson to 'The Carrand Master'," is dated 18 May 1936; the provenance is given as "Dreyfus Colln." (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474 Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2060.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1991

  • Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991-1992, not in cat.

1992

  • Piero e Urbino, Piero e le Corti rinascimentali, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 1992, no. 61, repro.

1994

  • The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo: The Representation of Architecture, Palazzo Grassi, Venice; NGA, Washington, D.C.; Musée des Monuments Français, Paris; Altes Mus., Berlin, 1994-1996, no. 422 of cat. supplement (shown only in Paris).

2004

  • From Filippo Lippi to Piero della Francesca: Fra Carnavale and the Making of a Renaissance Master, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004-2005, no. 40, repro.

2005

  • Il Rinascimento a Urbino. Fra' Carnevale e gli artisti del Palazzo di Federico [The Renaissance in Urbino: Fra Carnevale and the artists of the Palazzo Federico], Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, 2005-2006, no. 29, repro.

2006

  • L'Uomo del Rinascimento: Leon Battista Alberti e le arti a Firenze tra ragione e bellezza, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, March-July 2006, no. 159, repro.

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, 2006.

2011

  • Arquitecturas pintadas: del Renacimiento al siglo XVIII, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2011-2012, no. 11, repro.

Bibliography

1864

  • Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovan Battista Cavalcaselle. A New History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Sixteenth Century. 3 vols. London, 1864-1866: 2(1864):348, as by Filippo Lippi.

1901

  • Strutt, Edward. Fra Filippo Lippi. London, 1901: 147, as by Filippo Lippi.

1905

  • Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la Renaissance (1280-1580). 6 vols. Paris, 1905-1923: 4(1918):60, repro., as School of Filippo Lippi.

1906

  • Reinach, Salomon. Tableaux inedits ou peu connus tires de collections francaises. Paris, 1906: 25, pl. 17, as School of Filippo Lippi.

1908

  • Guiffrey, Jean. “La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus. II. La peinture.” Les Artes, no. 73 (January 1908): 3, 5, repro., as School of Filippo Lippi.

1923

  • Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 10(1928):468; 11(1929):300, as School of Filippo Lippi.

1925

  • Vaudoyer, Jean-Louis. “La collection Gustave Dreyfus.” L’Amour de l’Art 6, no. 7 (1925): 248, 259, 263, as School of Filippo Lippi.

1930

  • Landau, Dora. "Notes from Abroad." International Studio 96 (1930): 65, as School of Filippo Lippi.

  • "Duveen Buys Dreyfus Italian Renaissance Art." Art News 28 (12 July 1930): 3.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl. 223, as by Pesellino.

1939

  • Offner, Richard. "The Barberini Panels and Their Painter." In Mediaeval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter. Cambridge, MA, 1939: 236-246, figs. 30, 33, 34, 36.

  • Prampolini, Giovanni. L’Annunciazione nei pittori primitivi italiani. Milan, 1939: 64, pl. 58, as by Pesellino.

1940

  • Richter, George M. "Rehabilitation of Fra Carnevale," Art Quarterly 3 (1940): 313-314, 317, 320, 323, fig. 3.

  • Swarzenski, Georg. "The Master of the Barberini Panels: Bramante." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 38, no. 90 (1940): 94.

1941

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: nos. 56-57, repros.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 127-128, no. 329.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "On the Italian Renaissance Painters in the National Gallery: An Editorial." Art News 40, no. 3 (1941): 23.

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. “Expressionism and Abstract Painting.” Art Quarterly 4 (1941): 211, 215.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 246, repro. 151.

1943

  • Richter, George M. Andrea del Castago. Chicago, 1943: 11-12.

1944

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 34, repro.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 37, repro.

1948

  • Zeri, Federico. “A proposito di Ludovico Urbani.” Proporzioni 2 (1948): 170 n. 4.

1949

  • Pittaluga, Mary. Fra Filippo Lippi. Florence, 1949: 201.

  • Ragghianti, Carlo. “Studi sulla pittura lombarda del Quattrocento—2.” Critica d’Arte 8 (1949): 299 n. 35.

1953

  • Zeri, Federico. "Il Maestro dell'Annunciazione Gardner." Bollettino d'Arte 38, no. 2 (1953): 130.

1954

  • Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York, 1954: pl. 7.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 61, repro.

1960

  • Bruschi, Arnaldo. “Bartolomeo Corradini.” In Alberto Maria Ghisalberti, ed. Dizionario biografico degli italiani. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 29(1983):334.

1961

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 32, color repro. pl. 27.

  • Meiss, Millard. “Contributions to Two Elusive Masters.” The Burlington Magazine 103, no. 695 (February 1961): 57, 61, 62.

  • Zeri, Federico. Due dipinti, la filologia e un nome. Turin, 1961: 19-20, 22-24, 27-29, 31, 36-40, 42, 53, 61, 64, 67, pls. III, 8, 14, 16, 27, 49.

1962

  • Parronchi, Alessandro. “Leon Battista Alberti as a Painter.” The Burlington Magazine 104, no. 712 (July 1962): 286, fig. 14, pl. 1.

  • “Editorial: The Samuel H. Kress Collection.” The Burlington Magazine 104, no. 712 (1962): 279-280.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:141. 2:pl.695.

1964

  • Parronchi, Alessandro. Studi su la 'dolce prospettiva'. Milan, 1964: 445, 464, pl. 164a.

  • Lorgue, Christiane. “F. Zeri: Due dipinti, la filologia e un nome.” L’Information d’histoire de l’art 9 (1964): 90.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 84.

  • Neumeyer, Alfred. “The Lanckoronski Annunciation in the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum.” Art Quarterly 28 (1965): 13.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 74, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 3, fig. 1.

1969

  • Zampetti, Pietro. La pittura marchigiana del Quattrocento da Gentile a Raffaello. Milan, 1969: 84, 87, 88, 90.

1971

  • Zampetti, Pietro. Giovanni Boccati. Venice, 1971: 19, 202.

1972

  • Baxandall, Michael. Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy. Oxford, 1972: 51.

  • Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting and On Sculpture. Ed. and trans. Cecil Grayson. London, 1972: 154.

1974

  • Parronchi, Alessandro. Paolo Uccello. Bologna, 1974: 223, 224.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 218, repro.

  • Zeri, Federico. “Primizie di Alvise Vivarini.” Antichità Viva 14 (1975): 73.

1977

  • Ciardi Dupré, Maria Grazia, ed. L’oreficeria nella Firenze del Quattrocento. Exh. cat. Museo di Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1977: 286.

1979

  • Christiansen, Keith. "For Fra Carnevale," Apollo 109, no. 205 (March 1979): 200, 201 n. 7.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:309-311; 2:pl. 222.

  • Strauss, Monica J. “The Master of the Barberini Panels: Fra Carnevale.” Ph.D. diss., New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 1979: 41-56, passim.

1980

  • Zeri, Federico, and Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: Sienese and Central Italian Schools. A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980: 36, 38.

1983

  • Rowlands, Eliot W. “Filippo Lippi’s Stay in Padua and Its Impact on His Art.” Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1983: 195 n. 361.

  • Ciardi Dupré Dal Poggetto, Maria Grazia, and Paolo Dal Poggetto, eds. Urbino e le Marche prima e dopo Raffaello. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 1983: 43, 44, 50.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 108, no. 82, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 253, repro.

  • Mündler, Otto. "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler." Ed. Carol Togneri Dowd. Walpole Society 51 (1985): 220, 291.

1987

  • Petrucci, Francesca. “La pittura a Firenze nel Quattrocento.” In Federico Zeri, ed. La Pittura in Italia: Il Quattrocento. 2 vols. Milan, 1987: 1:283.

  • Steinberg, Leo. “How Shall this Be? Reflections on Filippo Lippi’s Annunciation in London.” Artibus et Historiae 8, no. 16 (1987): 42 n. 5.

1988

  • Zampetti, Pietro. Pittura nelle Marche. Florence, 1988: 394, pls. 185, 186.

  • Dal Poggetto, Paolo, ed. Capolavori per Urbino: nove dipinti già di collezione Cini, ceramiche roveresche e altri acquisti dello Stato (1983-1988). Catalogo. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 1988: 64.

1990

  • Roberts, Perri Lee. “Lost and Found: The San Niccolò Annunciation Reonsidered.” Southeastern College Art Conference Review 11 (1990): 373.

  • Bellosi, Luciano. “Fra Carnevale.” In Luciano Bellosi, ed. Pittura di luce. Giovanni di Francesco e l’arte fiorentina di metà Quattrocento. Exh. cat. Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 1990: 135.

1991

  • Gingold, Diane J., and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 196-197, color repro.

  • Manca, Joseph. “Mary Versus the Open Door: Moral Antithesis in Images of the Annunciation.” Source 10 (1991): 1.

1992

  • Dal Poggetto, Paolo. “Il ‘Maestro delle tavole Barberini’: Chi era costui?”. In Paolo Dal Poggetto, ed. Piero e Urbino, Piero e le corti rinascimentali. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 1992: 301.

1993

  • Ruda, Jeffrey. Fra Filippo Lippi: Life and Work with a Complete Catalogue. London, 1993: 412, 426, repro.

  • Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 514-515, fig. 633.

1994

  • Kanter, Laurence. Italian Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. I. 13th-15th Century. Boston, 1994: 213.

  • Valeri, Stefano. “Quattrocento pittorico marchigiano.” In Anna Cavallari, Sergio Rossi, and Stefano Valeri, eds. Quattrocento in pittura nell’Italia centrale. Rome, 1994: 74, fig. 17.

  • De Marchi, Andrea. “Pedanterie pierfrancescane.” Prospettiva 72 (1994): 90-91.

1996

  • Christiansen, Keith. "Master of the Barberini Panels." In Janr Turner, ed. The Dictionary of Art. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 20:623.

  • Bruschi, Arnaldo. “Urbino. Archiettura, pittura e il problema di Piero ‘architetto’.” In Città e corte nell’Italia di Piero della Francesca. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Urbino, 4-7 ottobre 1992. Venice, 1996: 227, fig. 10.

1997

  • Shaw-Eagle, Joanna. "Christ's Birth Gave Birth to Astounding Images: Gallery Glitters with holy Masterpieces." Washington Times (December 21, 1997): D5.

  • Weaver, S. Elizabeth. "Donatello's Variations on a Theme: Subjectivity in Quattrocento Perspective." Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 1997: 202, 294 fig. 4.15.

  • Borsi, Stefano. Bramante e Urbino: Il problema della formazione. Rome, 1997: 38, 39, repro.

1998

  • Gersch-Nešic, Beth. “Pregnancy." In Helene E. Roberts, ed. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:753.

1999

  • Arasse, Daniel. L’Annonciation italienne: Une histoire de perspective. Paris, 1999: 224-226, repro.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 182-186, color repro.

2004

  • Ciardi Dupré Dal Poggetto, Maria Grazia. “Spunti e riflessioni su fra’ Bartolomeo Corradini soprannominato fra’ Carnevale.” In Bonita Cleri, ed. Bartolomeo Corradini (Fra’ Carnevale) nella cultura urbinate del XV secolo. Atti del Convegno, Urbino, Chiesa di San Cassiano - Castelcavallino, 11/12 ottobre 2002. Urbino, 2004: 103, 113, fig. 5.

  • Ruda, Jeffrey. “Un ‘maestro’ ed alcuni suoi ‘discepoli’: la pratica ed il significato di imitazione artistica nella metà del Quatrocento.” In Bonita Cleri, ed. Bartolomeo Corradini (Fra’ Carnevale) nella cultura urbinate del XV secolo. Atti del Convegno, Urbino, Chiesa di San Cassiano - Castelcavallino, 11/12 ottobre 2002. Urbino, 2004: 155-156, 160.

  • Benazzi, Giordana. “Le Storie della Vergina di fra’ Filippo nel Duomo di Spoleto e un possibile lippismo tra Umbria e Marche.” In Bonita Cleri, ed. Bartolomeo Corradini (Fra’ Carnevale) nella cultura urbinate del XV secolo. Atti del Convegno, Urbino, Chiesa di San Cassiano - Castelvacallino, 11/12 ottobre 2002. Urbino, 2004: 188.

  • Tambini, Anna. “Due polittici a confronto: un contributo per Fra Carnevale.” In Bonita Cleri, ed. Bartolomeo Corradini (Fra’ Carnevale) nella cultura urbinate del XV secolo. Atti del Convegno, Urbino, Chiesa di San Cassiano - Castelvacallino, 11/12 ottobre 2002. Urbino, 2004: 298, 306, 310.

2007

  • Lugli, Emanuele. "Connoisseurship as a system: reflections on Federico Zeri’s Due dipinti, la filologia e un nome." Word & Image 24, no. 2 (2007): 164, 165, 169, fig. 3.

2010

  • Rowley, Neville. “Pittura di luce: La manière claire dans la peinture du Quattrocento.” Ph.D. Diss., Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2010: 64, 57, 191 n. 749, fig. 4.

2014

  • Buffi, Leonardo. Bartolomeo Corradini. L’amico frate di Federico da Montefeltro. Fano, 2014: fig. 2.8.

2017

  • Serres, Karen. "Duveen's Italian framemaker, Ferruccio Vannoni." The Burlington Magazine 159, no. 1370 (May 2017): 373 n. 40.

  • Valeri, Stefano. Quattrocento pittorico centroitaliano. Fra Carnevale, tre camerinesi e un Piero della Francesca. Rome, 2017: 24, 26, 27, 39, 102, 105-106, fig. 5.

2018

  • Bietti, Monica. "Filippo Lippi, i Martelli e l'Annunciazione per la basilica di San Lorenzo a Firenze." In Monica Bietti, ed. Intorno all'Annunciazione Martelli di Filippo Lippi: Riflessioni dopo il restauro. Florence, 2018: 62, fig. 47.

  • Rowley, Neville. "Una pittura di luce." In Monica Bietti, ed. Intorno all'Annunciazione Martelli di Filippo Lippi: Riflessioni dopo il restauro. Florence, 2018: 156.

Wikidata ID

Q20173622

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