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Amor Towles, author of Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow (both of which I enjoyed) recently released “The DiDomenico Fragment.” A fictional Renaissance painting gives the novella its title, and its narrator mentions a number of other artworks. As an art historian, I couldn’t resist posting images of some of them. The video of this blog post is here.

Note: This post was made without the knowledge or permission of Mr. Towles or his publishers. It contains no spoilers. The novella is available on Audible. As of 2024, it’s included in a short-story collection, Table for Two. Sign up for Towles’s email list to receive notices of his works.

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Chapter Three of “The DiDomenico Fragment” includes a discussion of a number of versions of the Annunciation painted in Italy during the Renaissance.

PRELUDE: MEDIEVAL ANNUNCIATIONS

Some depictions of the Annunciation have survived from before the Renaissance. They remind us that some aspects of the Annunciation iconography (landscape background, architectural interior) were only developed during the fifteenth century, when artists became interested in representing this world as well as the supernatural realm.

Ca. 1145-1240: Annunciation, stained-glass window from Chartres Cathedral, 12th or 13th century

Ca. 1389-1428: Andrea di Bartolo (1360/70-1428; active 1389-1428), Annunciation with Sts. Anthony Abbot and Mary Magdalene. Museo d’Arte Sacra della Val d’Arbia, Buonconvento.

Ca. 1390-1420: Pietro di Miniato, Annunciation. Santa Maria Novella, Florence. This one has a building on the right, but its linear perspective is done by eye. The painting was created not long before Masaccio introduced mathematically calculated linear perspective in The Tribute Money, in the mid-1420s. (See Innovators in Painting, Chapter 18.)

RENAISSANCE ANNUNCIATIONS

Towles mentions Annunciations by Fra Angelico, Filiippo Lippi, PIero della Francesca, Leonardo, Botticelli, and Raphael, with specific dates. I’ve included below examples of Annunciations by all those artists. However, many of the artists painted several versions of this subject, and few Renaissance paintings have firm dates. Since Towles’s narrator doesn’t mention the current locations of the paintings he’s thinking of, I can’t guarantee that the paintings below are the ones the narrator had in mind. But at least they’re the right artists and the right decade.

The images below are all Annunciations, but each artist had a different interpretation of the subject. Especially worthy of attention is the relationship between the archangel and Mary. Are they in motion or holding still? Are they making eye contact?

Ca. 1438-1450: Fra Angelico, Annunciation. Museum of San Marco, Florence. Fresco, 7.5 x 10.2 feet (230 x 312.5 cm)

Ca. 1467-1469: Fra Filippo Lippi, Annunciation. Spoleto Cathedral. Another huge fresco: you can see the curve of a wall at the top.

Ca. 1452-1466: Piero della Francesca, Annunciation. San Francesco, Arezzo. 10.7 x 6.3 feet (329 x 193 cm).

Ca. 1472–1475: Leonardo da Vinci (attributed artist), Annunciation. Uffizi, Florence. 39 in × 85″ (98 × 217 cm).

1481: Botticelli, Annunciation. Uffizi, Florence. 8 x 18 feet (243 x 550 cm).

Ca. 1502-1503: Raphael, Annunciation. Part of the Oddi Altarpiece, now at the Pinacoteca Vaticana. 10.6 x 19.6″ (27 x 50 cm).

Ca. 1500-1516? Giovanni Bellini (ca. 1430-1516), Annunciation. Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice. This one isn’t mentioned by Towles’s narrator. I’ve included it because I can’t stop looking at Gabriel’s robes.

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THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM

In Chapter Seven, the narrator of “The DiDomenico Fragment” takes his teenage relative to the Metropolitan Museum. You can get a sense of the size and sprawling growth of that institution in my post on the history of the Metropolitan Museum’s building.

The narrator doesn’t visit the mummies in the Egyptian Wing, but you can see examples here and here.

The Lehman Gallery is in a pentagonal wing on the west side of the museum. For more on the Lehman Collection, see the Met’s site.

Here’s the Lorenzo Monaco painting of the Nativity, ca. 1406-1410, in the Lehman Wing. It’s small: 8 3/4 x 12 1/4 in. (22.2 x 31.1 cm).

And here’s the Botticelli Annunciation, ca. 1485-92. It’s even smaller than the Lorenzo Monaco, at 7 1/2 x 12 3/8 in. (19.1 x 31.4 cm).

OTHER WORKS AND GALLERIES AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM

The Petrie Court cafe is on the west side of the MMA, a couple galleries south of the Lehman Wing. The Egyptian obelisk, a.k.a. “Cleopatra’s Needle”, looms outside in Central Park.

Below is Uglino, created in 1865-1867 by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. More views here. In Chapter 12 of Innovators in Sculpture, I use Uglino as a benchmark for the achievements of sculptors by the late nineteenth century.

Below is Rodin’s Burghers of Calais, 1884-1895, based on a grim episode from the Hundred Years’ War between England and France. In 1347, the English had been besieging the French coastal town of Calais for eleven months. With no relief in sight, the townspeople sued for surrender. King Edward replied that they would be spared if six of their leaders would emerge, carrying the keys to the town and the castle, and wearing nooses around their necks. Six men volunteered for what seemed to be a suicide mission. That’s the moment shown by Rodin.

The lives of the six burghers were spared by the intercession of Edward’s wife … but the English held Calais for more than a century. More photos of Rodin’s work here. The Burghers and other works by Rodin are discussed in Chapter 12 of Innovators in Sculpture.

And here’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa, sculpted in 1804-1806 in the Neoclassical style by Antonio Canova. More photos and info here. In Chapter 12 of Innovators in Sculpture, I use Perseus as one of the benchmarks for the achievements of sculptors by the late nineteenth century.

The narrator takes his teenage relative to the Arms and Armor gallery.

Last stop: the Studiolo, created ca. 1478-1482 for the Duke’s Palace in Gubbio (Perugia), based on a design by Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The “pictures” are all inlaid wood. See more of them here.

More

• Van Gogh’s Irises, 1889, sold in 1987 to Australian Alan Bond for $54 million. The painting is now in the Getty Museum. The Metropolitan Museum has a different painting of irises by Van Gogh.
• My favorite Renaissance Annunciation isn’t mentioned by Towles’s narrator. Donatello’s Cavalcanti Annunciation, ca. 1433 (Santa Croce, Florence) shows Mary recoiling as a winged figure appears in front of her. Donatello sculpted medieval subjects, but he rethought every composition and theme – not just the Annunciation, but the Madonna and Child, David, St. George, and more. See Innovators in Sculpture, Chapter 8.
• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon print and Kindle formats.
• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my free Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here. NOTE: I discontinued the Sunday Recommendations in June 2024, but two anthologies of the works I recommended are available: Starry Solitudes (poems) and Sunny Sundays. My current project is Timeline 1700-1900, on Substack; video intro here. It includes politics, economics, and the arts. A sample decade (the 1830s) is available here.