With blue wings spread, the angel swoops down and points.
Bible in art · Luke
The Annunciation to Zacharias
Italian painter · c. 1400
National Gallery of Art, Washington
An Italian painter made this small picture on parchment around 1400, in tempera and gold leaf. It once decorated a large handwritten book: the tall pink stem on the right and the blue leaves along the top belong to a painted letter that framed the scene.
Zechariah, old and white-bearded, stands at the altar with a censer on a chain. An angel in blue swoops down from the vaulted ceiling and points at him, and Zechariah lays a hand on his chest.
From the text
- Zechariah chosen by lot “to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense” (Luke 1:9)
- “An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense” (Luke 1:11)
- Zechariah “startled and gripped with fear” (Luke 1:12)
The artist’s own
- The angel flying down from above rather than standing beside the altar
- Zechariah dressed like a bishop of the painter’s time, with a white mitre and gold-trimmed vestments
- Gold haloes round both heads
- A Gothic vault and an altar with a patterned cloth and white linen, as in an Italian church
Details
The angel
Zechariah
The old priest looks up, one hand on his chest.
The censer
A gilded censer for the incense hangs on a chain from his hand.
The altar
A blue cloth with gold flowers and a white linen cloth cover the altar.
The letter
This pink stem and the blue leaves are parts of a large painted letter that framed the picture.
Italian 15th Century. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1948.11.131) · Miniature (tempera and gold) on vellum · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)