The Annunciation

Bicci di Lorenzo's Annunciation belongs to this Florentine painter's production of devotional works in the early fifteenth century, maintaining the International Gothic style into the period when Masaccio and Brunelleschi were transforming Florentine visual culture. Bicci di Lorenzo, who ran one of Florence's most productive workshops in the first half of the Quattrocento, served the conservative devotional taste that persisted alongside the revolutionary innovations of the early Renaissance. His Annunciation follows the established iconographic conventions while demonstrating the technical competence expected of a major workshop serving Florence's numerous churches and institutions.

Tempera and gold on panel, following standard Florentine workshop practice. The composition employs the traditional divided format for the Annunciation, with Gabriel and the Virgin separated by architectural elements, set against a burnished gold background.