Marble group depicting the Annunciation, sculpted between 1391 and 1397 for the Porta della Mandorla, the door on the north side of the Cathedral and attributed to Giovanni di Ambrogio. The statues portray the archangel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she has been chosen to bear Jesus, the son of God. The sculptor has managed to render Mary’s initial fear as she hesitantly recoils before confidently embracing the divine calling. Originally meant to decorate the external tympanum of the Porta della Mandorla with its iconography dedicated to the Virgin Mary,; they were however initially installed inside the Cathedral (probably until 1414) in a chapel on the counter-façade which also housed the “compasses” now displayed above the two statues.