Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus [SEP] collection
Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus
The Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus is a painting by the Italian Gothic artists Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, now housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. It is a wooden triptych painted in tempera and gold, with a central panel having double size. Considered Martini's masterwork and one of the most outstanding works of Gothic painting, the work was originally painted for a side altar in the Siena Cathedral.
History.
The painting originally decorated the altar of
to the city's patrons saints (St. Ansanus, St. Sabinus of Spoleto, St. Crescentius and St. Victor) during 1330-1350. These included the "Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus" by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, the "Nativity of the Virgin" by Pietro Lorenzetti (1342, Altar of St. Sabinus), and a "Nativity", now disassembled, attributed to Bartolomeo Bulgarini from 1351 (altar of St. Victor). All the paintings should represent stories of the Life of the Madonna, and