The Annunciation

If it were not for the lily with the one figure, and the open book with a reference to the birth of Jesus with the other, one would have difficulty in identifying the figures as the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel. For Mary the artist took a portrait painting by Albrecht Dürer as a model, created the angel as a counterpart, and combined the figures into a scene depicting the Annunciation. In particular, the super-smooth facial features and the mannered gesture of Gabriel are characteristic of Bellange’s work, which has mainly come down to us through prints.