Martelli Annunciation
Filippo Lippi·1445
Historical Context
The Martelli Annunciation of around 1445 was painted for the Martelli family, one of Florence's prominent banking families and major patrons of Florentine art and architecture. The Martelli chapel commission reflects the competitive piety of Florentine patrician families who marked their social and spiritual standing through elaborate ecclesiastical commissions — altarpieces, chapels, fresco cycles. Lippi's Annunciation for the Martelli family places the encounter between Gabriel and Mary in a loggia setting that reflects Brunelleschian architectural principles, creating a spatial recession that demonstrates Lippi's mastery of the perspectival space his generation had made the foundation of Florentine painting.
Technical Analysis
Lippi achieves remarkable depth through rigorous single-point perspective in the architectural setting, combined with his characteristic delicate figure drawing and soft, luminous color applied in tempera with oil glazing effects.
