wooden chair in the middle distance. An open prayer book rests on the lectern, which has an open cupboard containing various books. The background depicts a walled city on the shores of a lake, active with merchant vessels. Bonfigli demonstrates his style combining gold elements with gothic features, contrasting the divine halos and wings with the Gothic windows of the double loggia, presumed to be the Virgin's house, on the right. Bonfigli uses gold not only to accentuate the divine elements in the piece, but also in the greater, more earthly areas of the sky and textiles worn by Mary and the angel. This use of gold is often attributed with an earlier Gothic style, but does not detract from the sense of depth or reality in the scene. Bonfigli contrasts the Gothic details of the piece with classical ones, including the low wall separating the foreground and background that appears to be more modern in material and design. The landscape in the Annunciation is also attributed to the influence of Domenico Veneziano, another Renaissance painter who worked in Perugia from 1438 to 1454.This piece is often compared with Veneziano's earliest dated work, Adoration of the Magi, held in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, where Bonfigli derived the sense of depth created by the pine trees in the middle of the painting. Fra Angelico's influence can also be noticed in the fine details of the work in the immediate foreground, such as the glass vase filled with roses. The Annunciation belonged to the collection of Thomas Pelham Hood in Ulster during the 19th century, and was passed to another private collection in Rome before being sold on the Italian art market. In 1977, the first year the piece was on the market, it was purchased by Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. The painting has suffered wear; the colors are rubbed and the modeling in the faces has suffered damage, and vertical cracks exist in the painted surface. The draperies and other color losses have since been retouched. Legacy Benedetto Bonfigli is notable in that he is one of the Renaissance's earliest notable painters native to Perugia, granting the city artistic credibility before Raphael began his works. Bonfigli did not rank as high as other Renaissance artists of his time, including Niccolo da Foligno, his fellow pupil under Gozzoli. As Bernhard Berenson writes in his book, "far was it from [Bonfigli] to harbour