The Annunciation

In 1692 Luca Giordano, the most sought-after painter in Naples, left for Madrid to work for King Charles II of Spain, and he stayed away for ten years. His departure left the field in the city to Francesco Solimena, then in his mid-thirties, and this Annunciation was painted about a year later.

It is a small canvas with a great deal going on. Gabriel arrives on a cloud with a lily in his hand, the dove of the Holy Spirit appears in a burst of light at the top, and Mary turns from her table with one hand raised. Solimena keeps the everyday things in view as well, an hourglass on the table and a basket of cloth on the floor at the right. King William I bought the painting in Brussels in 1821 for the Mauritshuis, which still owns it, and it now hangs in the Gallery Prince Willem V.