Annunciation with SS. Francis, Nicholas, Thomas, and Evangelist

This gold-ground panel was painted in Siena in the 1370s, a generation after the Black Death of 1348 had emptied the city and killed many of its artists. Luca di Tomme was among the painters who carried the older Sienese style forward through those years. At the centre the angel greets Mary, who holds a book, while four saints stand alongside. You can pick them out by their signs. Francis shows the wounds of the stigmata, Nicholas wears a green vestment and carries a bishop's staff, and a young Saint Thomas holds the sword of his martyrdom. Above them, prophets unroll scrolls with the Latin words that were read as foretelling this moment, 'behold, a virgin shall conceive'.