Since it is the Feast of the Annunciation …

Published

March 25, 2026

Some of my very favourite paintings are Annunciations … the stunning Leonardo and Botticelli in the Uffizi, the lovely small painting from a predella by Domenico Veneziano close to home in the Fitzwilliam, the wonderful Filippo Lippi in the National Gallery.

But here instead is the rather strange but still very striking Annunciation, with Saint Emidius by Carlo Crivelli, also in the National Gallery.

Rowsety Moid comments: Carlo Crivelli’s Annunciation is one of my favourite paintings. There are many intriguing details, and the architecture reminds me of Escher.

I like in general the way saints are often depicted together with something that represents an important element of their story, here with Saint Emidius holding a model of what’s presumably the town of Ascoli Piceno. Mary naturally has a book. In the National Gallery of Scotland, there’s a painting that includes Saint Catherine holding and pointing to a small wheel.

Vitale da Bologna (Vitale dAimo de Cavalli) The Adoration of the Magi