The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius

Carlo Crivelli's Annunciation with Saint Emidius, painted in 1486 and now in the National Gallery, London, was created to celebrate Ascoli Piceno's receipt of the privilege of self-government from Pope Sixtus IV. The painting uniquely combines the sacred Annunciation with a civic celebration, as Saint Emidius, patron of Ascoli, holds a model of the city. The elaborate architectural perspective creates one of the most complex spatial compositions in 15th-century Italian painting.

Crivelli achieves extraordinary decorative richness with his signature hyper-detailed style—Persian carpets, cucumbers, apples, peacocks—while the sophisticated perspectival architecture creates a convincing deep space through the city street.