Cenni di Francesco, The Coronation of the Virgin with Saints: Detail, the Annunciation finials
1390s
Tempera and gold leaf on panel
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Mary's purity is symbolized by the angel's lily stalk. Her portrait combines a number of iconographic traditions. The throne-like chair goes back to some of the earliest Annunciation images. On it lies a book to represent the eternal Word for which she will be the throne. The book on her lap references commentaries claiming that she used to spend much of her time studying scripture. And the enclosure with a tree in the background is a visual quotation from the Song of Songs 4:12, "My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up." This text was taken at the time to refer to Mary's virginity (Murray, s.v. "Hortus conclusus").
A very old tradition in Annunciation iconography separated the two figures using either physically separate segments, as here, or else images of architectural dividers such as columns. It was also traditional to place the angel on the left.
The gold ground and pointed arches are typical of altarpieces of this period.
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Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.