The Annunciation

Sassetta's Annunciation, painted around 1435 for the Metropolitan Museum, presents the angel Gabriel's message to the Virgin in a refined Sienese style that maintains the decorative tradition while absorbing new spatial innovations. The Annunciation was among the most frequently commissioned subjects in Italian devotional painting. Sassetta — Stefano di Giovanni — was the dominant painter in Siena during the first half of the fifteenth century, maintaining the city's Gothic tradition of refined spirituality and jewel-like color even as Florentine artists were developing the naturalistic revolution of the Early Renaissance.

The scene is set within a loggia with receding architectural elements that demonstrate Sassetta's engagement with perspective, while his characteristic luminous color and flowing linear style preserve the poetic quality of Sienese painting.