The Angel of the Annunciation

In 1824 Francesco Hayez was teaching at the Brera academy in Milan, and the pictures that had made his name were large scenes from the Italian Middle Ages. This is a much smaller thing, a wooden panel just under 60 centimetres high with a single figure, the angel Gabriel, sent to tell Mary that she will bear a son. An angel of the Annunciation is only half of that story, and Hayez painted the Virgin who receives the message on a panel of her own. The picture has also come down with a second title, L'angelo ammonitore, the admonishing angel, a name that treats the messenger as one who gives a warning.