A 15th-century Annunciation attributed to Florentine painter Neri di Bicci is once again clearly visible in the Church of Sant’Agata in Florence following a restoration supported by Friends of Florence.
The completed project was presented at the church, at Via San Gallo 108, on 21 September. Friends of Florence funded the conservation with the support of donors William and Jeanne Bice, working alongside the parish and Florence’s heritage authorities. The painting was restored by Muriel Vervat.
The intervention is part of Friends of Florence’s work to support the conservation of Florence’s artistic heritage and keep works in their historic settings accessible to residents and visitors. Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda, president of Friends of Florence, said the project had allowed the community to appreciate again the colours and details of the Annunciation, while thanking the parish, heritage officials, conservators and donors involved.
A painting from Neri di Bicci’s early career
Dated 1444, the tempera-on-panel painting measures approximately 150 by 160 centimetres including its frame. It was first attributed to Neri di Bicci by art historian Matteo Marangoni in 1915.
An inscription records both its date and its patron: Sister Sandra di Francesco di Niccolò Riccialbani commissioned the painting as a votive offering for herself and her mother. Its composition follows the model of the celebrated Florentine Annunciation at the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata, an image that had long been the focus of popular devotion in Florence.
The work belongs to an early phase of Neri di Bicci’s career, when he was still closely associated with the workshop of his father, Bicci di Lorenzo. Silvia Benassai, an art historian with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio — the state authority responsible for protecting cultural heritage in Florence and Prato — notes that the painting reflects the transition between Florence’s late Gothic tradition and the artistic developments of the early Renaissance.
What the restoration revealed
Before conservation, the painted surface was covered by a substantial layer of environmental dirt, yellowed varnish and earlier retouching. The wooden support, made from four vertically joined poplar boards, also presented structural problems. Two nailed crossbars were replaced, vertical cracks were repaired and the wood was treated following evidence of active wood-boring insects.
Ultraviolet photography was used to examine alterations to the varnish and previous retouching, while infrared reflectography helped document the preparatory drawing beneath the painted surface. Work on the painted surface was carried out by Vervat, with Relart di Roberto Buda responsible for the wooden support and diagnostic investigations conducted in collaboration with Ottaviano Caruso.
Cleaning has made several elements of the composition considerably easier to read. These include the pale grey stone of the architecture against the dark foliage in the background, the pastel tones of the Virgin and angel, and the rays of light indicating the presence of God the Father.
Friends of Florence and the conservation of the city’s heritage
The Sant’Agata project brings together private philanthropy, specialist conservation and public heritage supervision, with Friends of Florence providing the financial support that made the intervention possible.
The parish also specifically acknowledged Friends of Florence, its president Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda and William and Jeanne Bice for their role in the project. Parish priest Don Dani Kamal said the restoration had returned the work to the community and made it possible for visitors to encounter it again both as a piece of Florence’s artistic history and as an object that remains part of the religious life of the church.
The restored Annunciation can now be seen again in the Church of Sant’Agata, on Via San Gallo in central Florence, reconnecting a work created almost six centuries ago with the place and community for which it has been preserved.
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