Simone Martini, Vierge de l'annonciation, Musée de l'Hermitage

Vierge de l'annonciation, Musée de l'Hermitage

Madonna from "The Annunciation" 
Martini, Simone. 
Tempera on panel. 30.5x21.5 cm
Italy. Between 1340 and 1344
Source of Entry:   Collection of Count G. S. Stroganov, Rome.1911

This painting was once the right-hand wing of a folding diptych showing the Annunciation. The left wing, with its image of the Archangel Gabriel, is now in the National Gallery in Washington.

Simone Martini was one of the leading late-Gothic masters. His works are marked by refined colour and linear rhythms, a wealth of ornament and graceful figures. Seated on a cushion, Simone's Madonna is the very embodiment of elegant femininity. Her head bowed, she listens calmly to the words of the heavenly messenger, telling her that she is to give birth to the Saviour of the human race. Here the artist sought to embody not the physical but the spiritual in the appearance of Mary. Her figure seems to have no corporeal volume and rather looks like a silhouette against the warm reddish gold ground.


L'ange de l'Annonciation du National Gallery de Washington
vers 1333

This small panel was originally half of a two-part panel made for private devotion. Rich with textured gold and marked by Gabriel's graceful silhouette, it is typical of Simone’s refined style.

Note the angel's ornate robe. In the decades following Marco Polo's return from China, thousands of caravans traveled the silk route carrying luxurious textiles west. As woven patterns of brocade and damask replaced embroidered and appliqued decoration, Italian cities grew wealthy from textile production and trade. Simone Martini devised new ways to re-create the look of these fabrics, and since much of the original paint of this panel has been lost, it is possible to see his technique. The entire panel, except for the hands and face, was gilded over an underlayer of red. Next Simone painted the angel’s robe in delicate pinks, shadowed with darker tones to define folds and the body. After tracing the outlines of the brocade, he scraped away the paint in the pattern area to reveal the gilding below, and finally textured the gold with tiny punches. This technique may have been inspired by Islamic “sgraffito” (scratched) ceramics, which were imported into Italy.