The Annunciation
ca. 1440
The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and announces that she will give birth to Jesus, the son of God.
Also known as "Lo Scheggia," Guidi painted small devotional paintings and decorations for furniture and boxes for some of Florence's wealthiest families, including the Medici. X-rays have shown that these two panels were once set on either side of a central panel to form a small devotional altarpiece.
Egg tempera and gold on wood
Samuel H. Kress Collection
61.159
Provenance: Mrs. Ralph Wormeley Curtis (nee Lisa DeWolf Colt, born 1867), Boston, Palazzo Barbaro, Venice, and Villa Sylvia, Beaulieu (alp. Mar.), France; [Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (1878-1955), Rome-Florence]; purchased by Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955), New York, September 16, 1938, as Francesco di Antonio di Bartolomeo (exhibited Roosevelt House, Hunter College, New York, December 1944, as Master of Fucecchio); Seattle Art Museum, since 1954, accessioned 1961
Photo: Eduardo Calderon