MADRID.- The generous collaboration of Friends of Florence and American Friends of the Prado Museum, which made matching contributions to reach a total of €150,000 euros, with the Prado Museum has facilitated the restoration of The Annunciation and other works not held at the Prado Museum and to be included in the major exhibition opening on May 28th: Fra Angelico and the Rise of the Florentine Renaissance. The extensive exhibit, with almost 80 pieces, is curated by Carl Brandon Strehlke, curator emeritus at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The centerpiece of the exhibition, The Annunciation, was painted by Fra Angelico in the mid-1420s, and is considered the first Florentine altarpiece in the Renaissance style, using perspective to organize space and forsaking Gothic archways in favor of more rectangular shapes, in line with the aesthetic implemented by the architect Brunelleschi in his innovative approach to the churches of San Lorenzo and the Santo Spirito.
The main purpose of restoring the work, carried out by Almudena Sánchez Martín at the Prado Museum Restoration Workshop, is to recover the rich, vivid colors and intense light that imbue the scene. Both are characteristic elements both of this piece and of the artist’s work in general…
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