ANTONIAZZO ROMANO

Antoniazzo executed this altarpiece for the Chapel of Annunciation in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. The painting was commissioned by Cardinal Juan de Torquemada who is seen on the painting as presenting three girls to the Virgin.

In this Annunciation Antoniazzo used the convention of depicting figures in different sizes according to their importance.

The panel is signed at the center bottom, “ANTHONATIUS ROMANUS”, while the carved pilaster to the right of the throne bears the date 1487 (in Roman numerals). The Madonna is flanked by St Paul and St Francis.

The picture, which has suffered from numerous restorations, was originally on the high altar of the church of San Paolo in Poggio Nativo. Iconographically, it is an example of the most traditional altarpiece format. In terms of style this piece locates Antoniazzo between the Melozzo da Forli and the Umbrian school, two influences that summarize the basic currents of Antoniazzo’s pictorial culture.

Many of Antoniazzo’s compositions of the Madonna and Child recalls motifs from medieval and Byzantine iconography, like in this panel. However, the influence of Perugino and Pinturicchio can also be observed.

Formerly listed in the Barberini inventories as a work of Ghirlandaio, this painting has had various attributions attached to it. It was once given to an anonymous master influenced by Melozzo da Forli, who took his name “The Master of the Barberini Nativity” from this picture. However, the painting is identifiable with Antoniazzo Romano on account of its closeness to the same artist’s Nativity at Cività Castellana, and datable to the years between 1480 and 1485. This painting stands as a fundamental work for the understanding of Roman painting of the second half of the fifteenth century. The iconography, with the infant Christ lying in a bundle of grain - a reference to Eucharistic symbolism - also includes the anemone and cyclamen in the foreground, both flowers that symbolize the passion of Christ.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 16 minutes):

Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto grosso in g minor op. 6 No. 8 (Christmas Concerto)

This well preserved portrait is a rare example of portraiture in Antoniazzo’s oeuvre. It once formed part of a triptych depicting the so-called Madonna di San Luca, with the wings comprising images of Sts Peter and Paul, along with this portrait and the sitter’s coat of arms. This triptych was dismembered and separated prior to 1923, and the present panel is all that is extant.

The Madonna di San Luca was one of the most venerated images of the Virgin in Rome. It was said to have been painted by Saint Luke himself; actually, it appears to have been painted in the 11th century.

This panel was executed after Giotto’s famous mosaic on the west wall of the oratory of Santa Maria in Turri, in the atrium of the old St. Peter’s in Rome.