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Beato angelico inspired wings on Nelli's angel
Why is the Annunciation important?
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Nelli. Heir of Fra Bartolomeo's sizable drawings collection and a true Renaissance woman. Nelli lived in a Florentine convent, like fifty percent of the city's literate women from noble or merchant classes. (Sizeable marriage dowries were only provided for eldest daughters). An art collector, art teacher and entrepreneur, Nelli broke the mold and, as Vasari writes in his famed Lives: “She made so many paintings for the homes of Florentine gentlemen that it would be tedious to list them all here”. Works by Nelli and her all-female workshop were especially popular in her time, as Florentine nobles believed that art by pious women were imbued with an aura of spirituality that made them a perfect match for private family chapels. The Palazzo Vecchio painting, now on display in the palace’s Mezzanine, is considered an example of this phenomenon.