Virgin Annunciate - Antonello da Messina
Circa 1474-1475. Oil on wood. Early Renaissance religious painting. Galletria Nazionale della Sicilia, Palermo, Italy.
Antonello (c. 1430-79) breaks with Annuciation tradition and condenses the sacred event into the single figure of the Virgin and concentrates on the personal and intimist aspects, underlining the effects of the event revealed to the pensive and realistic figure of the Virgin and making the viewer feel, due to the absence of the angel, that he is the sole witness to the sacred event.