Many of the Annunciation paintings from the Early Renaissance shared similar compositional elements and symbols. One glance at Fra Carnevale’s Annunciation immediately reveals that something is different. While most of his contemporaries portray the Virgin Mary sitting or kneeling inside an interior space, in Carnevale’s painting she is standing outside in a street or courtyard.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its acquisition of a long-lost painting by Renaissance artist Rosso Fiorentino (1494–1540) in a press release on Thursday. The painting Madonna and Child with Saint John the Evangelist (1512-1513) was considered lost for centuries, until a recent conservation treatment uncovered the figure of Saint John the Evangelist in the foreground of the work.