Annunciation (da Vinci)

Gabriel kneels in a flowering spring meadow, lily in hand and wings studied from a real bird, while Mary, at a marble lectern modeled on a Verrocchio tomb, raises her hand in startled assent (Luke 1:26-38). An early work from Verrocchio's Florentine workshop, it already shows Leonardo dissolving the far mountains into blue mist. Look closely and Mary's right arm reaches too far - a young painter's slip, or an adjustment for a sharply angled view. For the same subject pared to its essence, see Antonello da Messina's Virgin Annunciate in this collection, painted within a year but with the angel removed altogether.