The Annunciation

The Company of San Zanobi, a Florentine confraternity named after the city's early bishop, met inside the cathedral, and this was the altarpiece for its altar there. Mariotto Albertinelli was paid for it in instalments between 1506 and 1511. Those were the years when the young Raphael was living in Florence, and the deep architectural setting follows a drawing of his for the same subject, now in Stockholm. Above, God the Father blesses among music-making angels, and the dove of the Holy Spirit descends on a thin ray toward Mary. A small angel beneath him unrolls a scroll with the words of Isaiah's prophecy, a virgin shall conceive. In 1516 the company decided to flank the picture with two scenes from the story of San Zanobi by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, and those panels belong to the Accademia too.