La Anunciación

Around 1435, when Jan van Eyck painted these two panels, painters and sculptors were arguing openly over which art was superior, and van Eyck answered by tilting the contest his way. He painted the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary entirely in greys and whites, set in shallow niches, so they look exactly like two carved stone statues. This technique is called grisaille, and the point is the trick itself. With paint alone he mimics the weight and shadow of sculpture, then adds things stone could never hold, the faint warmth of skin, the sheen of a fold of cloth. The words of their exchange run along the frames, Gabriel's greeting and Mary's reply. These panels were small, made for private prayer, meant to be held and studied closely rather than hung across a room.