Spatial Imagery of the Annunciation in Fifteenth Century Florence

Abstract

EARLY in its history the Christian Church became aware of the Annunciation as a means of presenting the complex theological concept of the Incarnation of the Word in easily comprehended visual terms. The development and dissemination of the theme in the Middle Ages are already well known. Theologically the Annunciation marks the beginning of the life of Christ and the raison d'etre of the life of the Virgin. It represents a fundamental tenet of Christianity, and, more important, one of the few intellectual concepts which lends itself so readily to dramatization or portrayal. As such it played an important part in the daily Christianity of both laymen and clergy. Because of its popularity and vitality as an iconographical motif, both in the life of Christ and in the life of the Virgin, the Annunciation was able to adapt itself to changing tastes in art and theology without losing any of its force. Challenged by the humanism of the Renaissance, and particularly by the rational and humanist art of fifteenth ...