The Annunciation Explored through the Era of Italian...

The Annunciation is a Christian celebration of the iconic moment that the archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother to the Son of God, Jesus. The story of the Annunciation derives chiefly from the biblical Gospel of Luke, and has been portrayed abundantly and variously in many visual art forms from the earliest centuries of Christianity and Christian iconography. This essay will explore the depiction of the Annunciation and symbolism in the period of the Italian Renaissance and pay particular attention towards the development of the focus on spiritualism towards naturalism through the refined language of expression and gesture from the 14th century to the late 15th century. As a†¦show more content†¦Fig. 1 captures the very moment that the archangel Gabriel comes down from the heavenly realm to earth to announce to Mary that she will conceive the Christ-child and he shall be called Jesus. The gold of his crown is representative of the â€Å"celestial realm that he has left to deliver this message† (Kleiner, 2010:387). The announcement is depicted very much in the moment as the words are quite literally illustrated with the text Ava gratia plena Dominus tecum (Van Dijk, 1999:420), which leave his mouth from left to right as if they were encapsulated in a speech bubble. The phrase is in fact inscribed in Latin and reads as Hail, Mary, full of grace, blessed art thou among women† (Van Dijk, 1999:420). The draping cloth around Gabriel’s gold-infused light blue robe whips around the angel as if he had just land and his wings, which are still erect, depict an effortless grace of divine delicacy in the way that Martini executed the m. Making use of undulating, long curved linear lines, they are almost liquid-like in their fluidity. The angel is painted holding a branch of olive leaves in his left hand. This is a symbol of the Christ-head and his coming to earth as the â€Å"Prince of Peace† (Emmerson, 2006:456), and also makes a reference to the traditional biblical story of Noah, the ark and the dove returning with an olive branch as a promise of the covenant of peace made by God with man (Genesis 8:11, English Standard Version) In the middle of the very shallowShow MoreRelatedTexas Rangers13480 Words   |  54 Pageshim sort of en profile perdu.The occasion is Picasso’s visit to the Unite at Marseilles;and while down among the Pilotis,Picasso stands,stumpy and impassive,at center stage;and to the right (looking rather like an angel from some quattrocento Annunciation),Corbu gesticulates,in left foreground and looking toward the masters,one will discover Bernhard ;so,perhaps significantly he is the only person in the group to be wearing a jacket. † sort of scientific