In European paintings, the Christmas story begins with the Annunciation. This is one of the most captivating, along with versions by Simone Martini and Leonardo da Vinci. But where all those painters make the angel’s message to Mary a moment of mystic rhapsody, Carlo Crivelli is gorgeously distracted by the setting – an ideal version of Ascoli in Italy, where he painted this in 1486. He includes the figure of Ascoli’s patron saint holding a model of the town. This painting shows why the popularity of the Nativity grew in the middle ages: it was because people loved to imagine it all happening in their own towns and villages, their own homes – in this case among Crivelli’s potted herbs, peacock and fruits.
Picture: The National Gallery