L'Annonciation

Carlo Braccesco's L'Annonciation (Annunciation), painted around 1450 and now in the Louvre, is by a painter who worked in Liguria and later in Milan, absorbing a combination of Flemish-influenced Ligurian painting with the developing Lombard style. Braccesco, though a minor figure in Italian art history, is significant for understanding the artistic exchange between Liguria — a coastal region with strong French and Flemish connections — and the cultural powerhouse of Milan under the Sforza dukes.

Tempera or oil on panel with the Ligurian-Lombard synthesis of Braccesco's training. The Annunciation follows standard compositional convention with Gabriel and the Virgin in an architectural setting.