Who Is Piero Della Francesca's Annunciation?

Piero della Francesca’s Annunciation embodies both the notion of the period eye and the analytic impulse. The piece is an example of the period eye in that it is representative of what 15th century Italians would have wished to see in the piece. The Christian annunciation was a well-trod theme in western art history, particularly during the renaissance. Like many similar pieces, Mary appears as, obviously, one of the central figures. She is draped in a period style with dress of red with a blue cloak, colors then symbolic of her purity and divine royalty. God appears above in the same colors, yet reversed on his person. A winged Gabriel stands to the left of the piece, presumably in the act of ‘annunciating’. To the Renaissance viewer, the