This sculpture, made from poplar wood (CNR-IVALSA analysis, Florence), was recovered after the earthquake in Avezzano on 13 January 1915, by the then directorate of works of art and monuments, and was installed in Castel Satn’Angelo until 1920, when it came to Palazzo Venezia. The work came from the parish of San Demetrio ne’ Vestini (Mariani 1932, p. 429), and depicts a standing female figure, dressed in a bright red tunic and a mantle, which is azurite on the inside and covered in gold, which has been applied to the clay and a preparation of gesso and canvas (FORS analysis of CNR-ICVBC, Florence and XRF of the Laboratorio Mida of C. Falcucci, Rome). The figure has no iconographic attributes but, given her young face with its serene, composed features and her delicate hands, which hold a red book, she can be readily identified as the Virgin of the Annunciation (Fachechi 2010). Two very different geographical origins for the work have been put forward: Balzani published it as a piece from 13th century Abruzzo (1910, p. 37), while Gavini brought that date forward by two centuries (1932, p. 18), judging it to be by a Donatellian sculptor, perhaps Michelozzo, a view shared by Mariani (1932) and Hermanin (1948, p. 268); Santangelo (1954, pp. 70-71) believed it to be of the Paduan school, dating it to the end of the 15th century, and was supported by Carli (1960, p. 106) and other researchers. Despite some attempts to re-ascribe the work to the Abruzzo school (Moretti, 1968, p. 96), recent studies have supported its origin in the Paduan Renaissance and its “strict Donatellian style” of the mid-15th century, likening the work to the sculptures attributed to Mantegna (Ericani 2006, p. 407), but ‘softened’ by the compositional elegance of Antonio Vivarini.

Grazia Maria Fachechi