UMBRIAN SCHOOL, CIRCA 1520

ANNUNCIATION

UMBRIAN SCHOOL, CIRCA 1520

Tempera and oil on panel
25.4 x 18.7 cm / 10 x 7.4 in, with frame 45.4 x 28.7 cm / 17.9 x 11.3 inches

PROVENANCE
(probably) Poland, Lodz, collection of Herman and Max Kunert (I’m thankful for this information to dr. Dariusz Kacprzak)
Germany, Stuttgart, private collection
Yves Siebers Auktionen, Stuttgart, Auktion 77: Alte Kunst | Antiquitäten, 24 March 2021, lot 2195 (as Maler des 16. Jh. Verkündigung an Maria)

Attribution:
This small Annunciation is a typical example of Umbrian painting from the first quarter of the 16th century. Stylistically, we find completely different features in the picture. On the one hand, the draperies of clothes, some stiffness in the figures testify to a certain archaic manner of the artist, who may have worked in the provinces for a long time. On the other hand, there are also actual features in the work. The composition of the work, for example, shows the familiarity of the artist with the famous Annunciation Ranieri by Pietro Perugino, which was quite rightly noted by Daniele Simonelli. New manner is also the delicately painted landscape, clearly inspired by the views of Lago Trasimeno. A such dualism is characteristic of many masters who worked in Perugia in the first half of the 16th century. Roberto Ciabattini suggested that the author of the painting should be sought among the masters of the circle of Giovanni Battista Caporali.

Wladyslaw MAXIMOWICZ
Bratislava 2021