Annunciation (Moretto)

rdf:langString Annunciation (Moretto)

rdf:langString Annunciation is a 1535–1540 oil on panel painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, having been left to the city collection by count in 1832 – no previous owners are known. Its small dimensions mean it was probably painted for a home or clergy house rather than a church. Several replicas and copies are known, some of which are now lost. Art historians adjudge it one of the artist's best works, "unique in the small oeuvre of Il Moretto" for its composition, colours and religious sense, all based on silvery and subdued tones. It is well-preserved – its first analysis in 1871 by Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle called it a "fine and gracious painting and, even rarer, all in a good state of conservation". Pietro Da Ponte reinforced this in 1898, calling it a "small but very gracious and quite well-conserved work".