an example of Messina school sculpture in Tropea in the early sixteenth century
The group of statues is placed on the main altar and was commissioned by the Tropea archdeacon Alfonso Tranfo.
The two statues of the Angel and the Virgin, in marble with gilding, show a stylistic adherence with the work of the sculptor Giovan Battista Mazzolo from Messina, who created similar Annunciations for other cities in eastern Sicily and southern Calabria in the same period.
The octagonal pedestal on which the figure of Mary stands has an inscription on the main face which explains the financing for the creation of the statue by Sister Teresa de Gradis.
On the parallelepiped pedestal at the foot of the Angel there is the coat of arms of a patrician family present in Tropea in the sixteenth century, probably corresponding to the heraldic emblem of the Scattaretica family.
The work is part of that complex of initiatives by the urban elite for the enrichment of the artistic and devotional heritage of the city, in analogy with what occurred a few years later with the creation of the Madonna del Popolo in the cathedral.
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Famiglia Tranfo
La famiglia Tranfo di Tropea deriva probabilmente da un ramo dei Transo, di origine incerta
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