Ask the Scholar

This image of the archangel Gabriel is a fragment from a much larger painting of the Annunciation, which included the Virgin Mary on the right (now in a private collection). The white lily held by the archangel is symbolic of Mary's purity.The perfectly regular profile, the long curling hair, the gracefulness of the hands, and the overall emphasis on contour lines are characteristic of later 15th-century Central Italian painting, of which Signorelli was one of the great masters. The execution of this painting is, however, uneven. Gabriel's serene face is sensitively painted and is likely by the master himself, but the rendering of the folds of the sleeves is crude, indicating the participation of assistants. This kind of division of labor was not uncommon in Renaissance workshops although the degree of variation is usually not so great. The Painting is presently being cleaned and it may soon be possible to assess the execution more accurately.