The Virgin Annunciate

Cosimo Tura's Virgin Annunciate, a fragment of the Roverella Altarpiece from around 1477, was originally the right panel of the central Annunciation that occupied the upper register of his most ambitious commission. The panel shows only the Virgin — Gabriel would have appeared on the corresponding left panel — and the isolated figure has, through the altarpiece's later dismemberment, achieved an independent existence as a devotional image. Mary's expression in Tura's interpretation is characteristically unsettled rather than serene: instead of the calm acceptance of the Gabriel and Mary meeting as depicted by Florentine contemporaries, Tura's Virgin registers something closer to alarm or even grief, as if she already apprehends the suffering her assent will initiate. The fragment is now in the Galleria Estense in Modena.

The panel shows Tura's full mature technique: the face is modelled with exceptional refinement through layers of thin glazes over the imprimatura, achieving a skin-like luminosity despite the hard-edged style. The Virgin's drapery — blue over the crimson dress — is constructed with the angular, metallic fold system that distinguishes Tura's technique from all contemporaries. The throne or architectural setting behind her displays his characteristic fantasy ornamentation.