Annunciation (Moretto)

Last updated

Annunciation (1535-1540) by Moretto da Brescia Moretto, annunciazione brescia.jpg
Annunciation (1535-1540) by Moretto da Brescia

Annunciation is a 1535–1540 oil on panel painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, having been left to the city collection by count Paolo Tosio in 1832 – no previous owners are known. Its small dimensions mean it was probably painted for a home or clergy house rather than a church. [1] Several replicas and copies are known, some of which are now lost. [2]

Art historians adjudge it one of the artist's best works, "unique in the small oeuvre of Il Moretto" [3] for its composition, colours and religious sense, all based on silvery and subdued tones. [2] It is well-preserved [1] – its first analysis in 1871 by Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle called it a "fine and gracious painting and, even rarer, all in a good state of conservation". [4] Pietro Da Ponte reinforced this in 1898, calling it a "small but very gracious and quite well-conserved work".

Style

The first critical analysis of the work was by Pietro Da Ponte in 1898 – in the landscape background, which can be glimpsed through the room's windows and in the figures the silvery tints so characteristic of Moretto predominate and the composition breathes an air of youthful candour". [5] In the article written by Fausto Lechi and Gaetano Panazza for the 1939 exhibition La Pittura bresciana del Rinascimento, they write that it "is a most gracious, small composition that blends the bright and warm colours and silvery tones which make it very precious. The two most sweet images live in an almost-dreamlike atmosphere made of silvery tones and blue-green lights like seawater". [6]

In 1958 Gaetano Panazza called the work "a most delicious little panel, despite some heaviness in the cloud surrounds the Holy Spirit. It is one of Moretto's most successful creations, intimately poetic and rich in serene religiosity, silvery and cold in tones tuned and subdued, in which dark pearl predominates. The solution of the double-mullioned window is Lombard, perhaps with some Leonardesque sense, that lets us see the blue landscape in the background". [7]

In 1974 Camillo Boselli wrote "the Annunciation is a delightful jewel, unique in Morretto's small oeuvre, of which several more or less autograph Madonnas are scattered in public or private collections are the most common examples. These works are not always securely identified as autograph works by Moretto since many of them are probably studio works.... [The Annunciation] is securely an autograph work due to the preciousness of the colours, for the scene's collected and serene religious sense. The splendid landscape with that luminous meadow level is admirable [...]". [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Salomé</i> (Moretto) Painting by Moretto da Brescia

Salomé is an oil painting on canvas, by Moretto da Brescia, executed c. 1540. It is kept in the collection of the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia.

<i>Assumption of the Virgin</i> (Moretto) C.1526 painting by Moretto da Brescia

Assumption of the Virgin is a 1524–1526 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, displayed as the high altarpiece in the Old Cathedral in Brescia.

<i>The Deaf-Mute Filippo Viottis Vision of the Virgin Mary</i> Painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Deaf-Mute Filippo Viotti's Vision of the Virgin Mary is an oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, executed c. 1534, displayed in the Santuario della Madonna at Paitone in the Province of Brescia, Italy. It is first recorded in 1648 by Carlo Ridolfi, who wrote that "in the church atop Monte Paitone one can still admire a miraculous image of the Virgin which Moretto made at the request of that town for such a miracle".

<i>Supper in the House of Simon the Pharisee</i> (Moretto) Painting by Moretto da Brescia

Supper in the House of Simon the Pharisee is a 1544 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Chiesa della Pietà in Venice, Italy.

<i>Lament over the Dead Christ</i> (Moretto) Painting by Moretto da Brescia

Lament over the Dead Christ is a 1526–1530 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Painted late in the painter's youth, it shows strong similarities to the central panel of Paolo Caylina the Younger's Deposition Altarpiece  from around the same time, though there are also notable differences in their use of color, such as the brighter and clearer colors used by Moretto. Some of the elements reused by Moretto in Lament recurred later in his career, so the work gives a clear idea of Moretto's training and education as an artist.

<i>Christ in Glory with Saint Peter and Saint Paul</i> c. 1540 painting by Moretto da Brescia

Christ in Glory with Saint Peter and Saint Paul is an oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, executed c. 1540, displayed on the altar dedicated to St Peter in the abbey church of San Nicola in Rodengo-Saiano, where it has been since its production. It shows Christ handing the keys of the kingdom to Saint Peter and the book of doctrine to Paul of Tarsus. It was probably commissioned by one or more of the Olivetan monks of the church, probably by Tommaso da Gussago, as referred to by Luigi Fé d'Ostiani in 1886 on the basis of an unidentified document.

<i>Madonna and Child with Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian</i> (Moretto) c. 1528 painting by Moretto da Brescia

Madonna and Child with Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian is an oil on canvas painting on one of the side altars of the church of Sant'Andrea in Pralboino, province of Brescia, Italy. It was executed c. 1528 by Moretto da Brescia.

<i>Madonna and Child with Four Doctors of the Church</i> c. 1540 painting by Moretto da Brescia

Madonna and Child with Four Doctors of the Church is a 1540-1545 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt. From left to right it shows Saint Ambrose, Gregory the Great, Saint Jerome and Augustine of Hippo.

<i>Orzinuovi Altarpiece</i> 1528 painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Orzinuovi Altarpiece or Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saints Dominic, Joseph, Vincent Ferrer, Lucy and a Commissioner is a 1525–1530 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia on the wall of the chancel of the church of San Domenico in Orzinuovi.

<i>Pralboino Altarpiece</i> C. 1540 painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Pralboino Altarpiece is an oil on canvas altarpiece, of 1540–1545 and measuring 356 x 225 cm, by Moretto da Brescia in the church of Sant'Andrea in Pralboino, Province of Brescia, Italy. The work's upper register shows the Madonna and Child with Francis of Assisi and Saint Joseph, whilst below are saints Jerome, Louis of Toulouse, Anthony of Padua, Clare of Assisi and the painting's commissioner, cardinal Uberto Gambara, member of a local family. It was originally in the same town's Franciscan church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

<i>SantEufemia Altarpiece</i> c. 1530 painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Sant'Eufemia Altarpiece is a 1526-1530 oil on panel painting by Moretto da Brescia, originally on the high altar of Sant'Afra in Brescia and now in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in the town. The Sant'Afra Reliquary was also based on the painting. The painting's lower register shows saints Benedict of Nursia, Euphemia, Justina and Paterius.

<i>Luzzago Altarpiece</i> 1542 painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Luzzago Altarpiece is a 1542 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia. It was recorded in San Giuseppe church in Brescia in 1630 and moved to its present home in 1868. In the lower register Michael the Archangel points the kneeling donor to the Madonna and Child above, whilst Francis of Assisi stands to the right with a cross.

<i>Rovelli Altarpiece</i> 1539 painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Rovelli Altarpiece is a 1539 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, which since 1899 has been in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, Italy. Strongly influenced by Titian, it is named after the schoolmaster Galeazzo Rovelli who commissioned it for the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Brescia in 1539, where it remained until being removed in the 19th century and replaced by a copy. Its composition was reused by Moroni in his Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine in the 1560s.

<i>Portrait of Fortunato Martinengo Cesaresco</i> 1542 painting by Moretto da Brescia

Portrait of Fortunato Martinengo Cesaresco is a 1542 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the National Gallery, London. The use of X-ray photography during a 1973 restoration showed a table in front of the man with an open book on it.

<i>Portrait of a Gentleman with a Letter</i> C. 1540 painting by Moretto da Brescia

Portrait of a Gentleman with a Letter is a 1535–1540 painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, to which it was given in 1854. No record of it before that dates survives, though some art historians have identified it with a lost Portrait of Pietro Aretino recorded in correspondence.

<i>St Anthony of Padua with Two Saints</i> c. 1530 painting by Moretto da Brescia

St Anthony of Padua with Two Saints is a c. 1530 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia. The other two saints shown are Antony the Great and Nicholas of Tolentino.

<i>St Margaret of Antioch with Two Saints</i> 1530 painting by Moretto da Brescia

St Margaret of Antioch with Two Saints is a 1530 oil on panel painting by Moretto da Brescia on display on the side-altar of St Jerome in the church of San Francesco in Brescia. To the left of Margaret of Antioch is shown Saint Jerome, whilst to the right is Francis of Assisi.

<i>St Justina of Padua with a Donor</i> c. 1530 painting by Moretto da Brescia

St Justina of Padua with a Donor is an oil on panel painting by Moretto da Brescia, executed c. 1530, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, to which it was transferred in the late 19th century soon after the museum's opening. It shows Justina of Padua.

<i>The Dead Christ Adored by Saint Jerome and Saint Dorothy</i> C. 1520 painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Dead Christ Adored by Saint Jerome and Saint Dorothy or Saint Jerome and Saint Dorothy Adoring Christ in the Tomb is a 1520-1521 tempera verniciata on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia. It is on show above the left-hand side door to the church of Santa Maria in Calchera in Brescia, though it is not thought to have originally been produced for that church as neither Jerome nor Dorothy had an active cult in that parish and they rarely appear in art together.

<i>Holy Cross Standard</i> Painting by Moretto da Brescia

The Holy Cross Standard is a 1520-1521 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, commissioned by the Brescia's city council for the Company of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, guardians of the Sante Croci treasury at the city's Old Cathedral. It is now in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in the city.

References

  1. 1 2 (in Italian) Pier Virgilio Begni Redona, Alessandro Bonvicino – Il Moretto da Brescia, Editrice La Scuola, Brescia 1988, p. 304
  2. 1 2 (in Italian) Pier Virgilio Begni Redona, Alessandro Bonvicino – Il Moretto da Brescia, Editrice La Scuola, Brescia 1988, p. 305
  3. 1 2 (in Italian) Camillo Boselli, Gaetano Panazza, La Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Milano 1974, p. 102
  4. ↑ Joseph Archer Crowe, Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, A history of painting in North Italy, London 1871, p. 415
  5. ↑ (in Italian) Pietro Da Ponte, L'opera del Moretto, Brescia 1898, p. 48
  6. ↑ (in Italian) Fausto Lechi, Gaetano Panazza, La pittura bresciana del Rinascimento, exhibition catalogue, Bergamo 1939, p. 178
  7. ↑ (in Italian) Gaetano Panazza, I Civici Musei e la Pinacoteca di Brescia, Bergamo 1958, p. 122
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.