The annunciation of Mary

Considered as the master piece of Gregorio Martinez, it preside the altarpiece ordered by the banker Fabio Nelli for his funerary chapel in the church of the convent of San Agustin in Valladolid. It was completed by a bench of four paintings related to Christ's childhood and an attic were the Trinity was represented. After the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizabal, only the central piece came to the Museum. The original composition follows the classic canons dividing the narrative space in two decorates: the worldly one, with the Virgin and the Archangel Gabriel and the heavenly one with a glory of angels that surround the figure of the father. The whole composition is placed around the Holy Spirit, spatial, light and symbolic center of the scene and the connection point between the decors. The soft color shades, the value of the chiaroscuro and the inclination for the bombastic pleats are outstanding features of the paintings of this artist. Here, his admiration for Michelangelo's powerful shapes is clear as well as the sweetness of Raphael's faces.