Annunciation

The subject matter is drawn from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, verses 26-39. It depicts the angel Gabriel, sent by God to announce to a virgin, Mary, that she would miraculously conceive and give birth to a son, Jesus, who would later be called ‘the Son of God’ whose reign would never end. The subject was very popular for artworks and had been depicted many times in the art of Florence, including several examples by the Early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico. The details of its commission and early history remain obscure. In 1867, the painting arrived in the Uffizi Gallery from a convent near Florence. Thanks to Gustav Waagen’s identification methods, Baron Liphart attributed this piece to the young Leonardo, who was at the time still working in the studio of his master Verrocchio. Since then, the painting had been attributed to different artists, including Leonardo and Verrocchio's contemporary Domenico Ghirlandaio. More recently, however, it has been determined to be a collaboration between Leonardo and his master Verrocchio, with whom Leonardo had previously collaborated on The Baptism of Jesus.