On a tiled courtyard between buildings with arches and columns, a winged angel kneels and looks up at a woman standing to our right in this vertical painting. Both people have pale skin, blond hair, and plate-like gold halos at the back of their heads. To our left, the angel wears a silvery-white tunic under a scarlet-red cloak lined with cobalt blue. The wings are fawn brown on the underside, closer to the body, and aquamarine blue on the outside. Gold lines delineate feathers. The angel holds a white lily with two blooms and four buds on a long stem in the hand farther from us, which rests on a bent knee. The other hand is raised in front of the chest. The woman, Mary, stands along the right edge of the painting, her body angled toward the angel. Mary’s long, wavy hair falls to her shoulders, and she wears a lapis-blue robe with a pine-green lining over a red dress. She holds her right hand, farther from us, to her chest and touches the fabric of her cloak with the other, by her hip. The tip of one red shoe peeks out under her voluminous robe. Between the angel and Mary is a stone-white urn with scrolled handles, holding a bouquet of pink and white roses with dark green foliage. The ground is tiled with squares marbled in pale pink, sky blue, rust red, charcoal gray, and brown. Narrow, white panels between the tiles create a grid. The buildings around the pair are fog gray, parchment white, shell pink, or coral red, and are trimmed in black, red, or pink. Rows of arches recede into the square behind the angel and woman, ending at a coral-red wall that encloses the courtyard. An arched doorway in that wall opens onto a pathway leading over a small brook and into a hilly forest. A narrow, conical tree outside the courtyard reaches over the wall, into the vibrant blue sky above. A white dove descends from among the few scattered clouds with golden beams projecting toward the woman to our right.

The Annunciation

Fra Carnevale

On a tiled courtyard between buildings with arches and columns, a winged angel kneels and looks up at a woman standing to our right in this vertical painting. Both people have pale skin, blond hair, and plate-like gold halos at the back of their heads. To our left, the angel wears a silvery-white tunic under a scarlet-red cloak lined with cobalt blue. The wings are fawn brown on the underside, closer to the body, and aquamarine blue on the outside. Gold lines delineate feathers. The angel holds a white lily with two blooms and four buds on a long stem in the hand farther from us, which rests on a bent knee. The other hand is raised in front of the chest. The woman, Mary, stands along the right edge of the painting, her body angled toward the angel. Mary’s long, wavy hair falls to her shoulders, and she wears a lapis-blue robe with a pine-green lining over a red dress. She holds her right hand, farther from us, to her chest and touches the fabric of her cloak with the other, by her hip. The tip of one red shoe peeks out under her voluminous robe. Between the angel and Mary is a stone-white urn with scrolled handles, holding a bouquet of pink and white roses with dark green foliage. The ground is tiled with squares marbled in pale pink, sky blue, rust red, charcoal gray, and brown. Narrow, white panels between the tiles create a grid. The buildings around the pair are fog gray, parchment white, shell pink, or coral red, and are trimmed in black, red, or pink. Rows of arches recede into the square behind the angel and woman, ending at a coral-red wall that encloses the courtyard. An arched doorway in that wall opens onto a pathway leading over a small brook and into a hilly forest. A narrow, conical tree outside the courtyard reaches over the wall, into the vibrant blue sky above. A white dove descends from among the few scattered clouds with golden beams projecting toward the woman to our right.

Colors in this work

Details
Artist
Fra Carnevale
Date
c. 1445/1450
Medium
tempera on panel
Dimensions
overall: 87.6 x 62.8 cm (34 1/2 x 24 3/4 in.) framed: 120 x 92.4 x 8.3 cm (47 1/4 x 36 3/8 x 3 1/4 in.)
Department
CIS-R
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Palette

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Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Samuel H. Kress Collection

Art Genome Taxonomy

9 tags

Subject Matter

  • Bible Story Both · 99%

    The title identifies the biblical Annunciation, and the image shows Mary receiving a visit from a kneeling winged angel beneath a descending dove.

  • Deities and Holy Figures Both · 98%

    Mary and the haloed angel are presented as sacred figures in the Annunciation scene, consistent with the museum’s description.

  • Flora Both · 98%

    Lilies, roses, foliage, and a tall narrow cypress-like tree are visible, and the museum description identifies these botanical elements.

Visual Qualities

  • Emphasis on Linear Perspective Visual · 98%

    The courtyard is organized by strong receding lines in the tiled pavement, colonnades, arches, and architectural walls, producing a pronounced sense of depth.

  • Geometric Visual · 91%

    The architecture, tiled grid, columns, moldings, urn, halos, and garments are constructed from clearly delineated rectilinear and rounded forms.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Both · 99%

    The National Gallery of Art classifies the work as a painting, and the image visibly presents a painted vertical panel composition.

  • Tempera Metadata · 99%

    The museum records the medium as tempera on panel.

Time Periods

  • 15th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The museum dates the work to c. 1445/1450, placing it in the fifteenth century.

Tableware, Vessels, and Objects

  • Vase Both · 98%

    A prominent handled urn containing flowers appears between the two figures, and the museum’s description specifically identifies the stone-white urn and bouquet.

Source & rights

Fra Carnevale. The Annunciation. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

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