The Annunciation (detail) by Andrea Solario (1506)
Visual images of Christ and the Virgin were a familiar part of peoples lives during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Undoubtedly the scene of the Annunciation must rank together with that of the Crucifixion as the most popular subjects of visual art during this period. The dimensions of this panel painting suggest that this work might well have decorated a domestic interior, perhaps a bed-chamber. At the time, many moderately well-off lay people commissioned works of art for their homes. Subjects like the Annunciation were especially popular for men and women who wished to pray and meditate before devotional images. Solario locates the narrative in an interior space which resembles the domestic space of a bed-room through the rather grand curtained bed behind the Virgin. Mary sits in front of a table on which we glimpse several books. Her left hand rests on an open volume, reminding us of the legend attesting to her constant meditation on scripture. Importantly, by showing the Virgin engaged in prayerful devotion, Solario presents her as a model above all for lay women. Mary calmly accepts Gabriel’s astonishing message outlining her role as Mother of the Saviour. Both her physical demeanour and her facial expression convey Mary’s acknowledgement of Gabriel’s message together with her acceptance of God’s invitation. This north Italian artist, who spent most of his career in Milan, infuses the story of the Annunciation with an intimacy calculated to please his contemporaries. By situating the incarnation within a domestic interior Solario reminds us how often the sacred erupts into ordinary moments of life.
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