Apse: 2. Annunciation
by CAVALLINI, Pietro, Mosaic
The second scene of the Mary cycle, the Annunciation, is in the curve of the apse. This scene is especially notable for the vitality of its angel. He enters in haste, negotiating the irregularities in the terrain with a long stride and extending one hand in front of him. Mary shrinks back a bit, but maintains eye contact. One of Cavallini’s innovations is the three-dimensionality of the architectural elements, which lends Mary’s throne an uncommon monumentality.
The Annunciation with its architectural elements and plasticity is a good example of the stylistic changes gradually taking place in the last decades of the 13th century.