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Vinci, Leonardo da - VM - Jonathan Griffiths
Leonardo da Vinci: Annunciation
A Meeting of Two Worlds
By Jonathan Griffiths
The Annunciation (c 1472 - 1475) is the first major work by Leonardo da Vinci, completed when he was an apprentice in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio. It depicts the announcement of the incarnation by the Angel Gabriel to Mary found in Luke 1:26–38.
When Leonardo's Annunciation first came to public attention in the mid 19th century, arriving at the Uffizi from its home in the monastery of San Bartolomeo near Florence, it was not attributed to Leonardo. The painting was thought to perhaps be the work of Ghirlandaio, a lesser artist from Verrocchio’s shop. This was because of noticeable flaws in the composition: the awkward placement of the Virgin Mary beside her lectern and within the space defined by the linear perspective, her wooden posture and incorrect proportions, as well as cliches of style like her curled right pinkie. It was unimaginable that a genius like Leonardo would make such mistakes and poor judgements.
At the same time, the work contains many characteristic features of Leonardo’s mature style, especially in the treatment of the Angel Gabriel and the surrounding landscape. When a preparatory drawing for the sleeve of the Angel was discovered amongst Leonardo’s sketches, the painting was confirmed as his after all. It was probably done when he was 20 years old, the age when apprentices would finish their training by taking on a complete work as a graduation piece to showcase their skills and announcing their arrival as a new painter on the scene.
On the surface, the painting contains conventional iconography for paintings of the Annunciation in Renaissance Italy. On the left-hand side we see the winged Gabriel bowing and raising his hand in salutation while holding a white Lily – a symbol of the virgin’s purity. Mary is on the right-hand side, seated at a lectern where she studies the Scriptures. We can tell that the young Leonardo found inspiration for the basic positions and postures of the figures from other well known works of the time, but he introduces innovations which enrich the interaction between these two characters and heighten the sense of an other-worldly meeting.
Most significantly, Leonardo chooses a garden as the setting for the encounter, departing from the common practice of placing it indoors. A building filled with columns and arches gave artists an opportunity to show off their expertise in perspective, but Leonardo chose to tone down and scale back the architecture, establishing a more realistic setting for the scene. At the same time he creates two sides to the painting, contrasting the built and the natural environment. The walled garden and the pavement on which Mary is seated becomes the point of contact between two worlds.
Though she is outside, Mary is still associated with the architecture, seated within the space defined by the logic and order of perspective. Leonardo’s handling of the linear perspective is correct according to the rules, but his placement of the figure of Mary is off and this creates a strange sense of unease on this side of the image. By contrast, the garden and landscape belong to Gabriel, and Leonardo uses all his skills of naturalistic representation to create a convincing sense of unity between the angel and the vegetation around him. We see here Leonardo’s early experiments with sfumato and atmospheric perspective, techniques which create a sense of harmony between figure and ground which Leonardo would perfect over his lifetime.
The angel’s arrival is an alarming intrusion into the peaceful surroundings and quiet solitude of Mary’s contemplation. We read in Luke that Mary was troubled by the unusual greeting of the angel, and Leonardo chooses to show her reaction at this first encounter. In a typical painting of the Annunciation, Mary would be in a pose of quiet submission. Instead we see Mary startled, looking up from her reading, one hand still holding its place in the book, and the other raised in alarm. Mary’s gesture prefigures similar reactions that Leonardo will eventually give to disciples in The Last Supper, when they too are faced with an unexpected and troubling revelation. In the same way as that more famous work, Leonardo here brings us into the unsettling moment and invites us to ask with Mary: What could this mean?
Leonardo’s painting challenges our simple and unthinking familiarity with this story. The birth of the Messiah is the hope of a new world, but also the passing away of the old. The angel pronounces Mary blessed, but we know that the journey ahead will not be easy for her. Joy will also be attended by danger, trouble and a wounded heart. And even for her son, the promised Messiah, a painful death.
At Advent we look back at Christ’s coming and celebrate the blessings that he has won for us. We also look ahead to his return when this old world will finally be put right. Like Mary, we must also face times of uncertainty and trouble, but we can take heart knowing that God is still at work bringing about his perfect purposes for us and for our world. As we enter a new year, let us once again commit ourselves to God’s leading, and say with Mary “Let it be to me according to your word.”
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Leonardo da Vinci, Annunciation (c. 1472–1476), oil and tempera on poplar panel.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an architect, inventor, engineer, philosopher, physicist, chemist, anatomist, sculptor, author, and painter in the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. He is regarded as the textbook example of the Renaissance ideal of the homo universalis.
Jonathan Griffiths is an artist and freelance designer based in Somerset West, South Africa. He also leads an art and faith curatorial project called 40 Stones.
ArtWay Visual Meditation 22 December 2024