The Annunciation

The Annunciation was executed in 1512 by the Italian painter Giannicola di Paolo as an oil work on panel. Its early ownership is documented in an 1836 sale catalogue listing it as belonging to William G. Coesvelt of London; it was subsequently sold at Christie & Manson in June 1840 to Farquhar. The painting entered the collection of Granville Edward Harcourt Vernon and, by inheritance, passed to his wife Lady Selina Vernon, who retained it at least until 1894.

It later belonged to Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi before being acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1935, which gifted the work to the National Gallery of Art in 1939.

The Annunciation by Giannicola di Paolo, executed in 1512 on oil-on-panel, exemplifies early sixteenth-century Italian religious painting. Originally catalogued as a Raphael work in the 1836 Coesvelt sale, the attribution was later corrected to the Umbrian painter Giannicola di Paolo, a transition documented in provenance records and confirmed by Fern Rusk Shapley's 1979 catalogue entry. The panel entered the National Gallery of Art through the Samuel H. Kress Foundation gift in 1939 and has been lent for exhibition, including shows organized by Lady Hervey in 1883 and 1893–94.

Its iconography, depicting the Angel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary, aligns with contemporary devotional practices and underscores the artist's role in disseminating Annunciation imagery within the Italian Renaissance.

Giannicola di Paolo's "The Annunciation," an oil painting on panel from 1512, depicts the biblical encounter between the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary. This religious work captures the moment Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive the Son of God, a central narrative in Christian art. The artist employs a delicate palette and precise rendering to convey the scene's spiritual significance.