The Annunciation

This extremely sensitive rendering of one of the pivotal moments in the Christian narrative is one of only four plates that Barocci worked, all of which reproduce his own paintings. Despite his small production, however, Barocci was able to master the process of etching, as the technical range from vigorously hatched shadows to subtly stippled modeling of faces and hands attests. This print is generally recognized as the finest etched reproduction of a painting from the sixteenth century. Barocci’s representation of the Annunciation, after his altarpiece for the Basilica of the Holy Virgin of Loreto, makes the traditional analogy of Mary as the vessel of God with the room itself, whose open window permits the Holy Spirit to enter and conceive the Christ child. Despite this nod to tradition, the actual lighting in the scene does not come from this window but from the burst of heavenly brilliance above the figures’ heads, a vibrant combination of etched and engraved lines that aptly renders the splendor of Barocci’s altarpiece in graphic form. Barocci has chosen to set the scene in his native Urbino; the fifteenth-century ducal palace, home to his patron Francesco Maria della Rovere, is visible through the window. (From “A Handbook of the Collection: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art,” 1998)