Annunciation with Saints (Cavalcanti Polyptych)

Mainardo Cavalcanti was a Florentine who rose to high office in the Kingdom of Naples, and a close friend of the writer Giovanni Boccaccio, who dedicated one of his Latin books to him. When Mainardo died in 1379, his widow, Andreola Acciaiuoli, founded a chapel in his memory in Santa Maria Novella, the great Dominican church of Florence, and dedicated it to the Annunciation. This altarpiece was painted for its altar in the early 1380s.

That dedication is why the Annunciation takes the centre, the angel and the Virgin under the gabled arches, with saints in the side panels. The small pinnacles above run through the Passion, the Flagellation, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, and the predella shows the dead Christ in the tomb. On the sides of the frame are two coats of arms, the Acciaiuoli and the Cavalcanti, the widow and her husband side by side.

The polyptych stayed at Santa Maria Novella for more than 400 years and came to the Accademia in 1810. Its dividing columns, cornice and base were largely replaced during a 19th-century restoration.