Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, who earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence. And I must admit, they are breathtaking. If you ever go to Florence, you must see them!
Today we present a fragment of his Annunciation. It represents the Biblical story in which the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she has been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. The panel was once part of a large altarpiece, placed to the left above a central painting and held within an elaborate frame. Fra Angelico represented the moment just after the angel's announcement; we know this because of another masterpiece from the Detroit Institute of Arts that shows the Virgin, whose bowed head shows that she has submitted to the will of God. The Annunciation was an extremely popular theme in 15th-century altarpieces; Italian artists analyzed and depicted every aspect of this miraculous event.
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P.S. Have you heard of the angel with attitude? Here is the story of the grumpy angel painted by an Early Renaissance master, Niccolò di Ser Sozzo. :D