The Annunciation

Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) was a Venetian painter known for the spectacular, colorful manner that makes him one of the most important painters of the Venetian Renaissance, and this Annunciation from c. 1580 was produced with workshop assistance in the colorful, spectacular manner that distinguishes Veronese's best religious paintings. The Annunciation—the biblical episode in which the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will bear Christ—is treated in the magnificent, architectural manner that Veronese developed for his religious subjects, with the Virgin and the Angel arranged in the spectacular architectural setting that is his most distinctive contribution to Venetian painting.

The Annunciation is important in the context of Veronese's workshop practice because it demonstrates the collaborative manner in which Veronese's large studio produced religious paintings. Veronese's workshop was one of the most productive in Venice, and the collaborative manner in which his religious paintings were produced—with the master providing the design and the workshop executing the painting—shows how Venetian painting was organized in the late 16th century.

The Annunciation is Veronese's workshop in action: the biblical episode rendered in the magnificent, architectural manner that is Veronese's most distinctive contribution to Venetian painting, with workshop assistance showing how Venetian painting was organized in the late 16th century. The c. 1580 painting shows Veronese's spectacular religious manner at work.