'The Annunciation', 1876

Edward Coley Burne-Jones

Accession Number LL3634

'The Annunciation', Edward Coley Burne-Jones

The artist’s travels in Italy during the 1870s encouraged him to paint with a greater sense of classical structure and spatial organization. The monumental architecture, the pale, sombre colours and the statuesque figures lend an austere grandeur to the Virgin’s predicament. The model for the Virgin is stated to have been Mrs Leslie Stephen, then (appropriately) pregnant with her fourth child who would become the celebrated artist Vanessa Bell.

An extended study of 'The Annunciation' is available online as part of our picture of the month series.