Annunciation: Among the great paintings of the annunciation, the work by Botticelli at left shows an extraordinary dramatic tension as angel Gabriel presents the news of the impending birth of Christ to the Virgin. The magnitude of suppressed emotion - the careful eye of Gabriel and the delicate response of the Virgin, accepting yet denying, and the interplay of reds, the tiles, the wine and burgandy, both holy and of the blood, are aspects that bring the painting its vitality. Painted in 1489-90, it may be seen at the Uffizi.
Van Cleve's icon-filled painting (oil on wood, 1525, Metropolitan Museum) is a stiff pantomime, by comparison, of the announcement by Gabriel. The expensive bed with one pillow, the altar, the dove of the holy ghost, and the standard vase of lilies bring little new to the story. If there is an emotional tie made here between the two figures, it is lost in caricature, the smile of Gabriel more for the viewer than for the madonna, herself.
