Annunciation 1560 - 1600

Filippo Bellini made this drawing of the Annunciation with pen and brown ink in Italy sometime between 1565 and 1604. The Annunciation refers to the moment when the Angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will conceive and become the mother of Jesus. The conventions of this kind of image were well-established at this time. We see the Virgin Mary on the right, kneeling to receive the angel’s message. On the left, the angel gestures with a lily towards Mary, a symbol of her purity. But notice the grid marks throughout the image. This suggests that the drawing was a preparatory study, perhaps for a print or painting. Bellini probably needed to work out the composition in advance. From a social perspective, the status of the artist was changing in Italy at this time. Artists were increasingly interested in demonstrating their intellectual skills, not just their manual dexterity. Drawings like this reveal the artistry behind the finished product. To understand Bellini’s working methods and artistic ambitions better, we might look at other drawings from this period. These sources help us understand art as something rooted in social practices.