Gaudenzio Ferrari, 'The Annunciation: The Angel Gabriel', 1508-9

These are two panels from a multi-panelled altarpiece (known as a polyptych) painted by Gaudenzio Ferrari between 1508—9 for the church of Sant’ Anna in Vercelli. It was commissioned by the local confraternity dedicated to Saint Anne for the altar of their oratory. The document recording the commission says that Gaudenzio was to follow the example of the altarpiece commissioned by Sebastiano Ferrero for the church of Sant’Agostino della Misericordia in Vercelli.

The panels of the altarpiece were arranged in two horizontal rows of three. The National Gallery’s pictures depicting the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary were originally on the upper row, either side of a panel of God the Father blessing from the heavens. All the panels would have been contained in a large and elaborate gilded frame.

The lower row comprised three paintings: Saint Joachim chased from the Temple; The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Two Members of the Confraternity of Sant’ Anna (the central panel); and The meeting of Saint Anne and Saint Joachim at the Golden Gate. Saint Anne and Saint Joachim were the Virgin Mary’s parents. They were unable to have a child until they miraculously conceived the Virgin Mary in their old age – the panels of the altarpiece depict this story, which culminates in the Annunciation to the Virgin and the birth of Christ, who appears in the central panel with his mother and grandmother.

The lower scenes are set in classical architecture and against a landscape that continues between the panels. The leafy tops of the trees that are growing in the scenes below can be seen peeping above the parapets in the upper scenes depicting the Annunciation. In this work, Gaudenzio successfully integrates a variety of influences. The figure of the Virgin bending to gather up the infant Christ in the central scene of the lower row recalls Leonardo’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (Louvre, Paris), and the influence of Perugino, Filippino Lippi, Bramante and Bramantino is also evident.

No one knows exactly when the panels left the church of Sant’ Anna. By 1864 the two panels representing the Annunciation were owned by Sir Austen Henry Layard. They were given to the National Gallery in 1819 as part of the Layard Bequest. In 1865, the four other panels were bought by the Regia Pinacoteca, today the Galleria Sabauda, in Turin, where they remain.