Annunciation

Although Francesco di Valdambrino was a capable marble worker, his best works are polychromed wooden sculptures, a medium that enjoyed a considerable vogue among Sienese sculptors. St Stephen (Museo della Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, Empoli) and St Ansano (Santi Simone e Guida, Lucca) are both depicted as pensive, introspective figures. A number of wooden Annunciation groups have been attributed to Francesco (Santa Maria in Vitaleta, San Quirico; Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); the most accomplished in the emotional interaction of the figures and their fluid linear rhythms and grace are the Virgin Annunciate and the Angel Gabriel (Museo Civico Archeologico e d’Arte Sacra, Asciano).

Valdambrino’s statues of the Annunciation group at Asciano are exquisitely child-like figures unsullied by the least trace of interpretative emphasis.