Annunciation (Moretto)

[2] Art historians adjudge it one of the artist's best works, "unique in the small oeuvre of Il Moretto"[3] for its composition, colours and religious sense, all based on silvery and subdued tones.

[2] It is well-preserved[1] – 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".

The first critical analysis of the work was by Pietro Da Ponte in 1898 – in the landscape background, which can be glimpsed through the room's windows and in the figures the silvery tints so characteristic of Moretto predominate and the composition breathes an air of youthful candour".

[5] In the article written by Fausto Lechi and Gaetano Panazza for the 1939 exhibition La Pittura bresciana del Rinascimento, they write that it "is a most gracious, small composition that blends the bright and warm colours and silvery tones which make it very precious.

[7] In 1974 Camillo Boselli wrote "the Annunciation is a delightful jewel, unique in Morretto's small oeuvre, of which several more or less autograph Madonnas are scattered in public or private collections are the most common examples.