Una nuova ‘Annunciazione’ di Giovanni d’Alemagna e Antonio Vivarini e un’ipotesi per la sua provenienza da Santa Maria della Carità a Venezia

The article aims to shed light on the commission of an Annunciation offered for sale in June 2021, on the author’s recommendation, as a work by Giovanni d’Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini. A painting of this subject by the two artists is mentioned by Carlo Ridolfi in the Maraviglie dell’arte (1648) in relation to the Venetian church of Santa Maria della Carità, and this is factually confirmed by a payment collected by Antonio alone on 29 March 1450, probably following the death of his colleague, which is known to have taken place before June 9th of that year. It is thus proposed that, together with two other lost works – Antonio Vivarini’s polyptych for the high altar and a lost work by “Pietro di Fiandra” – the painting stood in the chancel area of the Venetian church of the Lateran Canons. The author also reflects on precisely how the two artists collaborated, and on the recent reassessment of Giovanni d’Alemagna’s role in early fifteenth-century Venice.