Annunciation 1443

Fra Angelico made this fresco of the Annunciation, painted directly onto the plaster wall here at San Marco in Florence. It is a masterful use of a demanding technique. Angelico worked quickly, laying down pigments while the plaster was still wet. This required careful planning and confident execution. The luminous colors, achieved with natural pigments like lapis lazuli for the Virgin's cloak, create a sense of ethereal beauty. Consider the social context: Angelico was a Dominican friar, and this monastery was a site of both artistic creation and religious devotion. The fresco isn’t just a beautiful image; it's an integral part of the monastic experience, made through a deeply engaged, material process. It demonstrates the immense skill and labor required to produce such a work. By focusing on materials, making, and context, we can appreciate the Annunciation not just as a work of art, but as a testament to the enduring power of human creativity and its intersection with faith.