Apparition of Christ to the Virgin
Encyclopedia
The Apparition of Christ to the Virgin is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi was an Italian painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy.-Biography:...

, executed around 1493 and now housed in the Alte Pinakothek
Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek is an art museum situated in the Kunstareal in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses one of the most famous collections of Old Master paintings...

 of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

The work dates to around to the period after Lippi's return to Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 after his works in the Carafa Chapel
Carafa Chapel
The Carafa Chapel is a chapel in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, Italy, known for a series of frescoes by Filippino Lippi.-History:...

 at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. It is perhaps to be identified with the panel mentioned by the Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...

 in the church of San Francesco al Palco of Prato
Prato
Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...

. In the 19th century, Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...

 acquired the paintings, which later, together with the other royal collections, was included in the Alte Pinakothek.

Description

The painting portrays Mary kneeling under the God, shown in a golden disc amongst the clouds in the sky. She is flanked by the apparitions of the Angel of the Annunciation and the Virgin Mary. The unusual iconography was perhaps a precise request of the commissioners, who would be also referenced by the monastery on the hill at the left.

Mary, according to the preachings by Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar, Scholastic, and an influential contributor to the politics of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498. He was known for his book burning, destruction of what he considered immoral art, and what he thought the Renaissance—which began in his...

 which were popular in Florence at the time, is aged and with a dramatic expression on her face. Her larger figure is perhaps connected to the particular worship she received in the original location of the painting.

The landscape in the background is depicted using aerial perspective
Aerial perspective
Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective refers to the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance. As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases, and the contrast of any...

, with echoes of the early Netherlandish paintings through Italian predecessors of Filippino, including his father Filippo Lippi
Filippo Lippi
Fra' Filippo Lippi , also called Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Italian Quattrocento .-Biography and works:...

. There are some small characters such as a few monks, depicted on a river view (perhaps the Bisenzio near Florence) commanded by rocky formations on the right. Far away is a misty city, identifiable most likely with Florence due to the presence of a large dome resembling that of Santa Maria del Fiore.

The panel has a predella
Predella
A predella is the platform or step on which an altar stands . In painting, the predella is the painting or sculpture along the frame at the bottom of an altarpiece...

with Christ Hold by an Angel and Six Saints.
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