The Annunciation and Two Saints

The Annunciation and Two Saints (Annunciation)
Artist: Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi; Tempera on panel; Size: 265x305cm; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

The painting The Annunciation and Two Saints is signed by artitst Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi and dated 1333. According to one of the most influential theologians of the late Middle Ages, St. Bonaventure, the Annunciation can be divided into three phases: the first is the greeting by the angel, the second, represented by Simone, is the one in which the angel, already kneeling, makes the annunciation proper and the third consists in Mary's consent and the Incarnation. Indeed, it is one of Simone’s greatest masterpieces, and marks an important stage in his artistic development, as he moved away from the spatial research of the preceding years and toward a painting of courtly flavor, linear in style and centering on the extreme elegance of the drawing and the splendor of the precious materials. Simone never abandoned a line that could be described as naturalistic and, in open contradiction with the overall composition of the work, atmospheric: note the angel's cloak, still fluttering from the flight that has just ended, with the marked chiaroscuro that makes it stand out from the gold ground, or the wings separated by a shadow, or again the lilies with their calyxes depicted in perspective.