  About the Artwork
  
  
  The Annunciation represents the biblical story in which Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she has been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. These two panels were once part of a large altarpiece, placed to the left and right above a central painting and held within an elaborate frame. Fra Angelico represented the moment just after the angel's announcement, as indicated by the gesture of the Virgin, whose bowed head shows that she has submitted to the will of God. The Annunciation was a common theme in fifteenth-century altarpieces; Italian artists analyzed and depicted every aspect of this miraculous event.
  
  
  Title
  Annunciatory Angel
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1450 and 1455
  
  Artist
  Fra Angelico
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  ca. 1400-1455
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Italian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Gold leaf and tempera on wood panel
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 13 × 10 5/8 inches (33 × 27 cm)
  Framed: 19 3/8 × 17 1/4 × 2 inches (49.2 × 43.8 × 5.1 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Bequest of Eleanor Clay Ford
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  77.1.1
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
