Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi - Annunciation with Saint Margaret and Saint Ansanus

As precious as a goldsmith’s work of art, the Annunciation once glistened in all its splendour on the altar of Saint Ansanus in the Cathedral of Siena, for which the great painter Simone Martini carried out the work in 1333. The courtly and exclusive world of Siena’s reigning oligarchy is reflected in this image, the greatest masterpiece of Gothic art: not only the slender figure of the Virgin, so like a princess, but also the details, such as the decorated throne, the precious book, the multifaceted vase, transport us into a cosmopolitan European - French in particular - culture, with which Siena shared a taste for small and rare ivory objects, illuminated manuscripts, precious brocades.

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