Description
Cestello Annunciation is a painting by Sandro Botticelli from 1489–1490, made for a family chapel in the church of the Cestello monastery in Florence: the archangel Gabriel has just knelt on a red-tiled floor, Mary in a blue mantle bends towards him, and between them a doorway opens onto a quiet river landscape. The original, tempera on panel, 150 x 156 cm, is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in 6 square or nearly square sizes from 60 x 55 to 140 x 135 cm or made to measure. You get a photograph of the finished painting before it is packed.
| Title: | Cestello Annunciation |
| Other titles: | Annunciazione di Cestello (Italian title) · Oznanjenje iz Cestella (Slovene title) |
| Painter: | Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445–1510) |
| Year painted: | 1489–1490 |
| Original size: | 150 cm x 156 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Tempera on panel |
| Painting style: | Early Renaissance |
| Located at: | Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy, inv. 1890 no. 1608 |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil on canvas, 6 sizes or made to measure |
Cestello Annunciation – Sandro Botticelli
What does the Cestello Annunciation show?
The scene is a plain room with grey walls. Its red terracotta floor is divided into squares by pale marble strips whose lines run back into depth.
On the left the archangel Gabriel kneels in a rose-red robe with golden-yellow sleeves, his green and sand-coloured wings still spread and a transparent veil swirling round his legs, as if he had just landed. He holds a white lily in his left hand and raises his right towards Mary.
On the right Mary, in a red dress and a gold-edged blue mantle, veiled and haloed, bends and twists towards him with lowered eyes, one hand reaching out, the other raised before her breast. Behind her stands a lectern with her book.
Between them a stone-framed doorway opens onto a small walled garden and a landscape with a young tree, a river with a bridge and boats, a castle on a rocky hill and a towered town.
What does the Annunciation scene mean?
The painting shows the Annunciation from the Gospel of Luke: Gabriel tells Mary that God has chosen her to be the mother of his Son. Two Latin lines from that Gospel run along the original frame: the angel’s words about the Holy Spirit coming upon her, and Mary’s answer that she is the handmaid of the Lord.
The lily stands for Mary’s purity. The walled garden behind the door is read as the hortus conclusus, an old image of her virginity, while the open landscape behind Gabriel hints at his heavenly origin and Mary stays enclosed by walls.
At the heart of the painting are the two hands. Mary’s reaches down, Gabriel’s stays raised, and they do not touch: his forefinger sits exactly on the line of the door jamb that divides her space from his. Commentators read this boundary as a conception without contact.
Why is the Cestello Annunciation so admired?
By the late 1480s Botticelli was a sought-after painter of altarpieces in Florence, and this commission shows why: with two figures and the empty space between them he builds a tension you feel even without knowing the story.
In Adoration of the Magi a throng of richly dressed Florentines presses around the Holy Family; here only the angel and Mary remain, in a bare room.
Many writers see in the simple setting, the muted colours and the almost theatrical gestures a graver tone, which they link to the sermons of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola. Giorgio Vasari described the work as early as 1550. You can read more about the panel and its frame in the English-language Wikipedia article.
Where is the original, and where does it come from?
You can see the original in Florence, in the Uffizi Gallery, under inventory number 1890 no. 1608. It is tempera on a wooden panel, 150 cm high and 156 cm wide, still in its original gilded frame.
The book of benefactors of the Cestello monastery records the commission: in May 1489 Benedetto Guardi ordered an altarpiece for his family chapel in the monastery church, today Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi. The frame’s lower corners carry the family arms with a black dog; its base shows Christ rising from an open tomb.
It was later moved to the chapel of San Martino at Terenzano near Fiesole, rediscovered there in 1870 and taken to the Uffizi two years later.
Botticelli, born Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi in Florence around 1445, was a tanner’s son who, Vasari says, trained as a goldsmith before studying under Filippo Lippi. Nearly forgotten after his death in 1510, he owed his revival to the Pre-Raphaelites in the late 19th century.
Cestello Annunciation or another Botticelli?
The Cestello Annunciation is a canvas painting for anyone who loves a quiet story told by two figures.
If Mary at her reading appeals to you, see Madonna of the Book, a small devotional panel of Mary and the Child with an open book. The round Madonna of the Pomegranate, also in the Uffizi, rings mother and child with six angels, and Lamentation over the Dead Christ, painted a few years later, carries the graver mood of his last years.
You will find more famous Botticelli paintings that we paint to order on our Sandro Botticelli page.
How do we hand-paint the Cestello Annunciation?
Botticelli’s original is not an oil painting but tempera on a wooden panel, 150 x 156 cm. We make a Sandro Botticelli reproduction from it in oil on canvas, built up by hand layer upon layer, so your copy can be shipped rolled, on a stretcher bar or in a frame.
The painter first draws the perspective, with tiles, door jambs and lectern all running to one point, then places the figures and lays in the broad colours: grey walls, brick-red floor, Mary’s red and blue, the angel’s rosy robe.
Faces and hands, which carry the scene, take the most time. Last come the gold borders, the veil, the feathers, the lilies and the landscape beyond the door.
Which size for which wall?
In short: the small sizes fit a hallway or a bedside wall, the middle ones go above a chest of drawers or a bed, and the largest want a big living-room wall.
We paint the Cestello Annunciation in 6 sizes (width x height): 60 x 55, 65 x 65, 75 x 75, 100 x 93, 110 x 107 and 140 x 135 cm. The original measures 156 x 150 cm (width x height), so every one of our sizes is smaller; the largest, 140 x 135 cm, reaches about 90 percent of its width. The canvas is square or nearly square because the original is too.
The smallest size, 60 x 55 cm, keeps the scene intimate, right for a bedroom. Between 60 x 55 and 75 x 75 cm it suits a wall over a chest of drawers or a bed. As a painting for the living room it comes into its own from 100 x 93 cm, when the two hands read clearly from the sofa.
Can I order another size and a frame?
Yes. For other proportions both figures stay whole and only the walls and floor at the edges change, so your oil painting reproduction keeps the full scene. Tell us your preferred measurements and we will quote a price and a date.
It ships rolled in a tube, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; our workshop in Slovenia stretches, frames and packs it. The 3D app is only for picking the moulding; a view on your own wall is a separate service. The original keeps its gilded frame, so gold suits our copy too; dark wood looks quieter.
When will your Cestello Annunciation arrive?
Your painting is ready to ship 15 to 45 working days after you confirm the order. Once it is finished we send you a photograph, and any changes are made before packing.
Within Slovenia and the rest of the EU it travels without customs duties, and our returns policy applies to every order.
An angel bringing good news is a lovely present for a christening, a wedding or a new home. Unsure of the wall? Give a wall art voucher and let them pick the size.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original painting?
In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, inventory 1890 no. 1608.
Who are the two figures?
The archangel Gabriel, kneeling with a lily, and Mary, who turns to him from her reading.
Is it a print?
No. It is a hand-painted copy: our painter brushes in every tile, feather and fold.
How big is the original?
150 x 156 cm (height x width); all our sizes are smaller, the largest has about 90 % of its width.
Is there a size beyond the six listed?
Yes: send the width and height for a price and a date.
How long until delivery, and how is it packed?
15 to 45 working days, rolled, stretched or framed, with a photograph first.
Is the Annunciation right for a bedroom or as a gift?
Yes. The calm scene suits a bedroom, and as a gift it fits a christening or a wedding.
Why does Gabriel carry a lily?
The white lily is a sign of Mary’s purity and often appears in paintings of the Annunciation.
- Subject: the archangel Gabriel kneels before Mary in a red-floored room, with a river landscape seen through the door.
- Original: tempera on panel, 1489–1490, 150 x 156 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
- Ours: hand-painted in oil on canvas, 6 sizes from 60 x 55 to 140 x 135 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: the original is still in the frame made for it, with a Latin inscription from the Gospel of Luke.
