\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 The picture is a highly original masterpiece of late fifteenth-century Ligurian painting, and its paternity is still disputed between
the painter Carlo Braccesco and the still anonymous figure known as the "Master of the Louvre Annunciation.ö\par
At the center of the triptych is set the scene of the \i Annunciation\i0 , where the Virgin is depicted in an attitude of fright at the appa
rition of the angel, whom we see on the right, hovering over a sort of gilded plate. The event is set in an elegant loggia supported by two slender columns that frame an open terrace. This is bounded by a marble parapet and has a floor with a checkerboar
d pattern viewed in perspective. A natural landscape, the sky and a view of a city, perhaps Pavia, are all visible far away in the background. The picture is dominated by a golden hue, used both as a color and to represent light. In the side panels, agai
nst a backdrop of red and gold brocade, appear the four saints: on the left Benedict, with a crosier and an open book in his hands, and Augustine, with a large miter and his gloved hands raised in a gesture of blessing; on the right Stephen, in a blue da
lmatic with gold appliquΘs and with stones on his head, and Albert, transfixed by daggers and bearing the palm of martyrdom. \par
The unity of the whole is underlined by the position of the saints at the sides, arranged in a semicircle turned toward the
