Alessio Baldovinetti

Alesso Baldovinetti was a Florentine painter who loved the landscape of the Arno valley: in his religious scenes, rivers, roads, fields and hills stretch into the distance behind the figures. His work is careful and luminous, with clear light and fine detail in plants and rocks.

Born in Florence, he followed the realist painters of his day, such as Domenico Veneziano and Andrea del Castagno. His Nativity fresco in the church of the Santissima Annunziata of 1460 has one of the finest landscapes of its time. He also worked in mosaic, restoring the mosaics of the Baptistery, and designed stained glass. Domenico Ghirlandaio was his pupil.

His Portrait of a Lady in Yellow is in the National Gallery in London, and his Annunciation is in the Uffizi. Look at the delicate profile and the open valley behind the Virgin.