DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61668#0147
PAINTINGS WITH PIERO
97
in the composition and landscape the strongest
reminiscence of the Turin painting. Another work
showing the influence of both Masters is the panel No.
781 of the National Gallery. The left hands of the
Archangel and Tobias might have been copied from
those in the Turin painting, and have the structure
peculiar to Piero—broad in the palm with the thumb
inclined to curve backward.
A very unequal work almost entirely by the hand of
Piero is the Annunciation, No. 73 of the Kaiser
Friedrich Museum, Berlin ; (Plate XV.). Judging by
the superiority of the painting it must be placed at a
later date than either of the foregoing, probably nearer
to 1470, the year of the Mercatanzia Virtues, which it
closely resembles. In the Catalogue it is attributed to
Piero alone, yet it is probable that Antonio furnished
part of the design, and that he aided his brother in the
beautiful and characteristic landscape. The painting
was most likely executed at the commission of Lorenzo
de’ Medici for the Chapel of Careggi, for the view of
Florence is that seen from the Villa, and so much
emphasis is laid on the decoration of the hall, as to
suggest that it represents one of the rooms. It seems
as though the composition has been patched together
from separate studies, for the background has two
points of view. The gallery behind the Archangel has
its own vanishing-point, and is in admirable perspective,
the depth of space being rendered with Antonio’s usual
* It was bought from the Solly Collection, where it was attributed
to Antonio.
G
97
in the composition and landscape the strongest
reminiscence of the Turin painting. Another work
showing the influence of both Masters is the panel No.
781 of the National Gallery. The left hands of the
Archangel and Tobias might have been copied from
those in the Turin painting, and have the structure
peculiar to Piero—broad in the palm with the thumb
inclined to curve backward.
A very unequal work almost entirely by the hand of
Piero is the Annunciation, No. 73 of the Kaiser
Friedrich Museum, Berlin ; (Plate XV.). Judging by
the superiority of the painting it must be placed at a
later date than either of the foregoing, probably nearer
to 1470, the year of the Mercatanzia Virtues, which it
closely resembles. In the Catalogue it is attributed to
Piero alone, yet it is probable that Antonio furnished
part of the design, and that he aided his brother in the
beautiful and characteristic landscape. The painting
was most likely executed at the commission of Lorenzo
de’ Medici for the Chapel of Careggi, for the view of
Florence is that seen from the Villa, and so much
emphasis is laid on the decoration of the hall, as to
suggest that it represents one of the rooms. It seems
as though the composition has been patched together
from separate studies, for the background has two
points of view. The gallery behind the Archangel has
its own vanishing-point, and is in admirable perspective,
the depth of space being rendered with Antonio’s usual
* It was bought from the Solly Collection, where it was attributed
to Antonio.
G