The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius

In 1482, Pope Sixtus IV granted the small city of Ascoli Piceno the right to self-government free from direct papal rule. Four years later, Venetian painter Carlo Crivelli was commissioned to paint an altarpiece of the Annunciation celebrating the occasion. The finished painting was installed in the convent, most likely in the chapel of the Annunciate Virgin, in the same year, 1486. The civic background to this commission explains numerous unusual features within the work, specifically the urban setting of contemporary Ascoli, and the presence of the city’s patron saint, Emidius, who can be seen with the Archangel Gabriel offering a model of the city to its protector, the Virgin Mary.

The Virgin herself is firmly encased in a building, surrounded on three sides by the tight confines of her room, the two other houses on this street are far plainer than that of the Virgin, lacking its ornate entablature and lavish decorative elements – a contrast that makes a pointed statement about the Virgin’s elevated status. Its privacy is emphasised and secured by the barred window that faces the street and yet the front is open to us, the viewers, who look into her private room. Mary is therefore more accessible to the beholder of the picture than to the Holy Spirit, which enters her room through a hole in the wall. The metaphorical removal of barriers between the worshipper (who through prayer before this painting becomes closer to Mary) and the Virgin is further enhanced by the extraordinary three dimensional effects at the front of the pictorial space. For more information on this painting see the National Gallery website.