Carlo Crivelli: The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius (1486)

(The National Gallery, London, UK)

This altarpiece is the best known work of Carlo Crivelli. The town of Ascoli recieved a degree of self-government from pope Sixtus IV in 1482 and this news reached the town on the feast of the Annunciation on 25 March. This painting was commissioned for the church of SS. Annunziata in Ascoli to celebrate the event. Depicted is the annunciation with Maria on the right. She is situated in a fictional town with the Archangel Gabriel and Saint Emidius kneeling in the street. Saint Emidius is the patron saint of Ascoli and he holds a model of the town itself. This painting is also well known for its use by UFO enthusiasts who claim the disc shaped opject in the sky to be an UFO. This disc-shaped object is God himself, if you zoom in you can see 2 rings of angels while a ray of light shines from the center to Maria. Painting from 1486.