Annunciation, il Nosadella

Annunciation, an oil on panel by il Nosadella, was purchased with funds from the bequest of Fowler McCormick '21. We know very little about the artist, Giovanni Francesco Bezzi, who was called il Nosadella after the street in Bologna where he lived. He was active from around 1550 until his death in 1571. He was a follower of Pellegrino Tibaldi; it remains a problem to separate their work. There is, however, one certain painting by il Nosadella, an altarpiece in the Oratory of S. Maria della Vita in Bologna. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has a Nosadella drawing. Both the painting and the drawing help to point the attribution of our painting to Nosadella and not to Tibaldi, to whom, until recently, it was at tributed. The search for a firm attribution is often a detective story or a treasure hunt. The preliminary drawing for Princeton's painting, which turned up in a private collection in London, provides a clue and adds a twist to our tale. In the painting, Gabriel, surrounded by a host of animated putti, sweeps down from above. But in the drawing the Archangel, larger in scale and unaccompanied by putti, kneels on a platform behind Mary. X-rays of the painting reveal that the angel of the drawing was painted to completion and is still there under the painting as we see it today. Even the naked eye can discern outlines of the head of the original angel, and even more clearly visible is an earlier dove, symbol of the Holy Ghost, that spreads shadowy wings below the final version. Why was the picture changed? We can only guess. The changes were made by the artist himself and are consistent with what is known of his style. Moreover, the form and pattern of tiny cracks on the paint surface give evidence that all the paint is of the same age. To add to the story, infrared photography shows another area of indecision on the part of the artist. At the top of the panel, under the final dove, is what might be the chubby form of the Christ child carrying a cross. The cross shows up in several positions. lconographically surprising at the late date of the painting, such a composition could have been considered archaic and this could, conceivably, have contributed to the changes. The literate, if barefoot, little Virgin seated at her lectern with books and sewing basket beside her, is essentially the same in both the preliminary drawing and the painting. Her sewing basket with cushion, cloth, thread, and shears, testimony to her devout handiwork on the Veil of the Temple, is a charming detail that merits your attention.