Alessandro Magnasco, um 1667 Genua – 1749 ebe... Lot n° 314

The Annunciation to Mary Oil on canvas. Doubled. 50,2 x 73 cm. In gilded frame. The painting depicts the decisive moment when the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that the Holy Spirit will descend upon her and she will conceive a son. In an interior space the Mary half kneeling at a prayer desk in pink-blue clothes. In the background her bed with white blanket and green canopy. With her head slightly lowered and her left arm extended downward, she turns devotedly to the angel who has appeared. This angel, standing in contrapposto, is wrapped in a bright, luminous robe, has large wings, and with his dynamically raised right arm and outstretched index finger he points to the dove surrounded by clouds, hovering between the two above, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, from which a ray of light falls on Mary. The angel's left hand holds a lily branch symbolizing Mary's innocence and virginity, of which only the flowering tip is visible behind his shoulders. Against the brownish background, Mary's colored robe stands out in particular and contrasts with the angel's white-yellowish, slightly greenish robe. Particularly striking in the center of the triangle formed by the angel, the dove and the Virgin Mary: an abstract rectangle, slightly iridescent, of which it is unclear whether it is a painting or a mirror. The lighting, which particularly highlights the main figures, seems to come from the left due to the shadow of the angel on the ground. A main inspiration for the present painting of the artist seems to be in the work of the "Annunciation" by Domenico di Pace, called Beccafumi (1486-1551) (kept in Sarteano). In this painting, the same triangular structure of the space between the angel, the dove and the Virgin can be seen, but with a round-arched window view instead of a square. The sobriety of Magnasco's representation, reduced here to its essential elements, also suggests a larger work, even if it is not executed. The firmness of his handwriting is one of the characteristics of Magnasco's style. Provenance: Sotheby's, London, July 29, 2020, lot 145. Literature: See P. A. Orlandi, The Abecedario Pittorico, Bologna 1719. Fausta F. Guelfi, Alessandro Magnaso, Genoa 1977 (the painting illustrated and discussed), p.156/157. Laura Muti, Daniele de Sarno Prignano, Magnasco, Faenza, 1944, cat.no.412, fig.435.. Cf. Daniel Arasse, L'Annonciation Italienne, Paris 1999. Cf. Daniel Arasse, Histoires de Peinture, Paris 2004. (1330243) (18) Alessandro Magnasco, ca. 1667 Genoa - 1749 ibid. THE ANNUNCIATION Oil on canvas. Relined. 50.2 x 73 cm. Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 29 July 2020, lot 145. Literature: cf. Pellegrino A. Orlandi, The Abecedario Pittorico, Bologna 1719. Fausta F. Guelfi, Alessandro Magnaso, Genoa 1977 (the painting illustrated and discussed), p.156/157. Laura Muti, Daniele de Sarno Prignano, Magnasco, Faenza, 1944, cat.no. 412, ill.435. cf. Daniel Arasse, L'Annonciation Italienne, Paris 1999. cf. Daniel Arasse, Histoires de Peinture, Paris 2004.