William Coesvelt

British

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Two round, gold frames each show a person from the waist up in this nearly square painting. The rest of the panel is filled with vegetal and animal designs against a black background. A pair of nude winged angels are beneath each “framed” picture. All the people have pale skin and delicate features. The two people in the frames, Gabriel and Mary, have honey-brown hair and the pairs of angels below have short, blond hair. In the circular frame to our left, Gabriel looks to our right in profile. Plum-purple wings curve up and out from the shoulders. Gabriel wears a sage-green garment with harvest-yellow sleeves and a raspberry-pink robe. A stem of white lilies is held in one hand and the other gestures to Mary, to our right. Mary’s body is angled toward Gabriel, and she looks off to our left. She wears a garnet-red dress under a light blue robe, and her hands are together in prayer. A stone ledge runs behind both Gabriel and Mary, and a lectern holding a book sits on the ledge behind Mary. Behind both Mary and Gabriel, distant hills lead back to bodies of water that wind around rocks and buildings to hazy mountains along the horizons. A tiny gold crab perches on the top of the frame above Gabriel. Pelican-like birds and dragon-like creatures are surrounded by swirling vines and swags above and below the frames. The two pairs of angels take up the bottom third of the panel. The two angels in each pair mirror each other. The angels sit with their knees facing opposite directions, their knees crossed away from us, on altar-like structures. The left pair of angels have olive-green and mauve-pink wings, and the other pair have green and lavender-purple wings. All four have their eyes closed. Each altar is covered with a gold-edged, white scroll. All four angels rest one elbow on the rounded body of an urn sitting on the altars. The angels rest their chins in those hands, and each holds a scrolling vine with the other hand. The vines meet in the middle to support a flaming cauldron.
Giannicola di Paolo, The Annunciation, 1510/1515, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.155

The Annunciation

Giannicola di Paolo · 1510/1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.155

A woman and two children, all with pale skin and flushed cheeks, sit together in a landscape in this round painting. The woman takes up most of the composition as she sits with her right leg, to our left, tucked under her body. Her other leg, on our right, is bent so the foot rests on the ground, and that knee angles up and out to the side. She wears a rose-pink dress under a topaz-blue robe, and a finger between the pages of a closed book holds her place. Her brown hair is twisted away from her face. She has delicate features and her pink lips are closed. She looks and leans to our left around a nude young boy who half-sits and half-stands against her bent leg. The boy has blond hair and pudgy, toddler-like cheeks and body. The boy reaches his right hand, on our left, to grasp the tall, thin cross held by the second young boy, who sits on the ground next to the pair. This second boy has darker brown hair and wears a garment resembling animal fur. The boy kneels facing the woman and looks up at her and the blond boy. The trio sits on a flat, grassy area in front of a body of water painted light turquoise. Mountains in the deep distance are pale azure blue beneath a nearly clear blue sky.
Raphael, The Alba Madonna, c. 1510, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.24

The Alba Madonna

Raphael · c. 1510 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.24