Botticello's Cestello Annunciation of 1489 is a spectacular painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence - in the same room as the larger, more well known Botticellos, but along with the Simone Martini painting a few rooms away, a masterpiece of this genre. The Virgin is the epitome of coyness, the Angel one of urgent entreaty. It's interesting to note that here the Virgin appears to be in control, or at least the dominant figure - previous Annunciations had the Angel dictating to a far more passive Mary. If in Florence, you will need to brave the crowds to get in, certainly in season. Let the bus tours and their guides swirl around the Venus, and sneak over to gaze at this painting for a while. You may be, relatively, undisturbed.

Written by  James Dunford Wood.

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