3-002-768 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Annunciation, c1430. This unusually well-preserved and exquisitely painted altarpiece represents the moment that the archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God, while mary's gesture with her right hand signals her acceptance of her destiny. The dialogue between them is inscribed in their haloes. In the spandrel above, David, one of the ancestors of Christ, is painted in his role as the Old Testament prophet. The little garden behind Gabriel is a hortus conclusus (enclosed garden), symbolic of Mary's virginity.