The Annunciation

Zanobi Strozzi's Annunciation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, painted around 1453, continues the devotional manner of his master Fra Angelico into the mid-fifteenth century. Strozzi's faithful preservation of Fra Angelico's style made him a valued painter for patrons who preferred the serenity of the earlier master's vision. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting. The tension between Gothic grace and Renaissance structure gives art of this period a distinctive energy.

The Annunciation is set within a loggia rendered in perspective, with the angel and Virgin painted in the luminous colors and gentle modeling that demonstrate Strozzi's thorough absorption of Fra Angelico's devotional aesthetic.