In the opinion of the American art historian Prof. Louis A. Waldman, the painting was made for the papal wing of the Vatican in 1570, Zombori said. The opinion - Waldman is a world renowned researcher of the work of Leonardo da Vinci - and a sketch of the painting owned by the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York are proof the painting is a Vasari original, he added.
Researchers believe Vasari was commissioned by Pope Pius V to paint the Chapel of Saint Michael in the papal residence in 1569. Because of his advanced age, Vasari probably relied on assistants to paint the frescos in the chapel, but the painting on the chapel's altar as well as four circular paintings matched to the pillars around the rotunda were his own work. The frescos were chipped away and the paintings removed in the mid-1800s, when tastes changed and many Renaissance works were taken out of the Vatican. The altar painting was brought to Livorno, but the four circular paintings around the rotunda disappeared for centuries, until one found its way to Hungary, where it was purchased by a rich citizen of Szeged in 1896. The painter's owner bequeathed the painting to the museum in 1925.
Vasari's The Annunciation can be seen as part of the Museum of Fine Art's From Botticelli to Titian exhibition, which is open from October 28 until February 14.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: u-szeged.hu
