How to Read Paintings: The Annunciation by Botticelli
Enter a small but perfectly formed world
This is a small painting, just over 30cm wide. Yet if you let your eyes move beyond the bare wood of the outer margins and enter the scene, it gradually takes on a much grander dimension.
In The Annunciation, Mary is visited by an angel in her private quarters. In the Christian tradition, the Annunciation describes the moment when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ.
In the painting, a linen curtain has been drawn to one side, allowing us to see into Mary’s chamber whilst also telling us that this is a private space. A row of pillars divides the space occupied by the angel from the intimate chamber of the Virgin. Before her there is a book resting on a stand; in Annunciation paintings, Mary is often shown studying scripture.
The first interesting thing to notice is the architecture. Whilst the scene depicts an event from the Bible, Botticelli has shown it taking place in a 15th century Italian setting. The image shows Mary within a loggia — a room with open sides. It is a way of including contemporary, and therefore familiar, architectural detail into the work whilst also suggesting a modest, enclosed setting. The secluded space, or sometimes a walled…
