I have just spent 2 weeks painting icons in a monastery just outside Florence.

We were studying the Annunciation by Fra. Angelico (originally painted between 1450 and 1455).

The image tells the story of the moment when Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she has been chosen to be the Mother of God. Italian artists of the period analysed and imagined every aspect of this miraculous event.

I had the opportunity to learn advanced gilding techniques, for example how to make the gold leaf “mirror bright”, how to make incisions in the gold for the halo and painting on the gold with transparent varnishes.

I also explored painting techniques for the garment, face, hair and hands of the angel, using the methods and materials described by Cenino Cenini in his Libro dell’arte.