When the Angel Arrives: How Renaissance Grace and Baroque Drama Reimagined the Annunciation

Emily Cho ‘27 • Dec 6, 2025

Title: ‘Annunciation’ Artist: Leonardo da Vinci

Year: 1472-1475

Medium: Oil and tempera on panel

Size: 98cm x 217cm

Location: Uffizi, Florence, Italy

Angel Gabriel is kneeling down to Mary in two strikingly contrasting scenes. In Leonardo da Vinci’s 1472 Renaissance¹ painting, the encounter unfolds in a bright, serene landscape with lush, soft grass and fresh, tall, green trees, depicting her announcement that she will bear Jesus(Art Post Blog, 2021). In stark contrast, Artemisia Gentileschi’s 1630 Baroque² interpretation, places a figure kneeling down in front of Mary in a dark clearing, pointing at a white bird breaking through the dark  clouds, bringing strands of light(Wikipedia, 2024). Although both paintings share the similarity in which they depicted a biblical event, they differ profoundly in composition³, atmosphere, and emotion.

The first thing they differ is composition.

In the Renaissance period, paintings often had a linear or a triangular composition called pyramid configuration⁴, which makes the painting very balanced and stable (JanetPanic, n.d.). In the painting Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci⁵, these figures are discernible such as from Gabriel himself, the wings of Gabriel which was drawn after bird’s wings and which are about to fold, the book and the silk flowing underneath, the tip of Mary’s head to her arms, and the building’s lines and the line going through the mountain behind (Triplmprover, n.d.). Multiple straight, linear lines can be discovered as well; the edges along the grass, the line across the building, the line that goes through the edges of the trees, and the line of the desk are all linear to each other. However, there seems to be minor flaws; Mary’s right arm is unnaturally longer than the left which makes the painting awkward. According to a recent theory, the error might have been made deliberately because when the viewers look at this painting on the right, the disproportion disappears (Art Post Blog, 2021).

“Leonardo da Vinci’s painting The Annunciation captures many of the most common and symbolically charged motifs of the well-known biblical story (Jones, 2020). Mary is visited by an angel as she sits inside a walled garden before a Renaissance palace, evoking the hortus conclusus (enclosed garden) that alludes to her purity. In the Christian tradition, the Annunciation describes the moment when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ. In Leonardo’s painting the angel has strong, solid wings, probably based on studies of a bird of prey, and seems to enter the image with a corporeal vigor. Mary is taken aback, perhaps exhibiting a combination of disquiet and reflection at the angel’s appearance.”

• Jones, Christopher P.(Art historian, critic, novelist, artist. Author of How To Read Paintings)

Title: ‘Annunciation’

Artist: Artemisia Gentileschi

Year: 1630

Medium: Oil on panel

Size: 257cm x 179cm

Location: Museo di Capodimonte, Naples

On the other hand, many of the Baroque paintings are chaotic, which are contributed by the diagonal compositions. In contrast to Leonardo’s painting, Annunciation drawn by Artemisia Gentileschi⁶ is quite disorderly. The viewer's eyes are drawn immediately to Angel Gabriel who is reaching his arms diagonally out to the sky, staring at Mary with two knees on the ground. The tip of his arms and the left side of the cloud split the painting in half diagonally. Mary is bending down to him, and on top of her is the light coming from the sky diagonally, with a white bird swooping through. Both of them would not be able to stay in that position for a long time because they are both unstable (Wikipedia, 2024). Gabriel does have some kind of triangle in his posture but he is kind of tilted to one side and his arms are stretched too high. Mary is more stable compared to Gabriel but with her upper body bent down, and her hand in front of her, it still seems unstable. In other words, the compositions in Renaissance paintings are mostly stable and balanced with triangular and linear compositions while Baroque paintings are chaotic and disorganized with diagonal or dramatic compositions.

Renaissance paintings are known for idealism in contrast to Baroque paintings which create stark differences in their atmosphere. In Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, the general atmosphere is peaceful and calm with the landscape in the background composed of flowers, neatly cut grass, trees, mountains, and lakes in the distance. Gabriel is holding a white lily which represents Mary’s purity as well as the symbol for Florence (Medium – Jones, 2020). The painting’s aesthetic features are highlighted - a key feature in renaissance artists’ style - Mary’s skin and hair is smooth and soft, the building is clean, new, and smoothly carved without any cracks on the walls, while the floor is clear with no cracks, dirt, or dead leaves. In addition, the marble desk has elaborate, detailed patterns with the bottom decorated as claws and even the weather is depicted as flawless, with mist in the background and sun shining on Mary, Gabriel, and the ground (Triplmprover, n.d.).

On the contrary, the Annunciation that Artemisia Gentileschi painted is far from beautiful or aesthetic. There are angels that only have faces and wings floating above and dark clouds looming over. Mary and Gabriel look older with wrinkles showing on their faces and their hands show much more wrinkles as well. In contrast to the serene background in Leonardo’s painting, this painting has a pitch black background. Even though a lot of bright colors are present, consuming the space such as vivid yellow, bright red, dark brown, or pale yellow, the overall painting has a cold atmosphere, especially the background and the floor, except for the light showing above where the bird is. The painting is very dim, dark and appears to be cramped without any open areas or nature (Wikipedia, 2024). Consequently, Renaissance paintings are focused on idealism which makes everything look flawless while Baroque paintings shift its focus on emotion rather than idealism.

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”  

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:26–38) (BibleGateway, n.d.)

The last difference is in the emotion.

Many Renaissance paintings have emotions buried within while Baroque paintings directly express a burst of emotion. If you look at Leonardo’s painting, Mary’s face devoids completely of emotion despite the angel coming down from the sky to announce that she will be the mother of Jesus. The viewers can only assume that she is surprised by the gesture of her left hand. Gabriel, too, exhibits no emotion, he just knelt down calmly and again, the viewers can only assume that she is respectful to Mary due to his gestures and the way he is kneeling down (Triplmprover, n.d.). Both Mary and Gabriel have emotions kept within, they are not showing them.

In contrast, Artemisia's painting directly exhibits a burst of emotion. Gabriel, who is kneeling down has her hand pointing toward a white bird high in the air and the motions of his hands are very dramatic. He is leaning toward the viewer's side and the light and shadow intensifies the emotion, creating a mysterious allure. The viewers can imagine him declaring the announcement and showing great respect for Mary who will be the mother of Jesus (Wikipedia, 2024). Mary is bending down, accepting the announcement that Gabriel. 

As a result, Annunciation made by Leonardo da Vinci and Artemisia Gentileschi differ in composition, atmosphere, and emotion. Renaissance artworks have linear and triangular compositions which makes the painting stable, still, and balanced while Baroque artworks have diagonal composition which makes them chaotic and disorderly. Subsequently, the atmosphere in Renaissance is focused on idealism which makes the painting aesthetic and flawless while the atmosphere in Baroque is dark and is more focused on emotion rather than idealism. Lastly, the emotion in Renaissance is buried within while Baroque shows explosions of emotions.

¹Renaissance: A literary revival or cultural innovation movements during the 14th and 16th centuries

²Baroque: Style of dramatic expressions or rich decorations in Europe during the end of 16th to 18th centuries

³Composition: How things are arranged or placed in art

⁴Pyramid configuration: One of the most fundamental compositions in art. In a portrait that follows the pyramid composition, the subject’s body forms an upright triangle shape, with the head in the top center of the vertical space and the shoulders and body expanding below to form a wide base.

⁵Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo Di Serpiero da Vinci is a scholar representing the Italian Renaissance. He was a painter, sculptor, inventor, architect, anatomist, geographer, and musician. Leonardo da Vinci topped Nature's list of the 10 geniuses who changed human history in November 2007.

⁶Artemisia Gentileschi: Artemisia Gentileschi is an Italian Baroque painter. She is considered the highest-achieving painter among later conversationalists influenced by the Caravaggio style. During the Gentileschi era, female painters were rejected from the painter community and it was difficult to find sponsors.

Reference

Articles

1. "Annunciation by Leonardo: Analysis and Curious Facts." The Art Post Blog | Art and Artists Italian Blog, 22 June 2021, www.theartpostblog.com/en/annunciation-leonardo-da-vinci/.

2. "Bible Gateway Passage: Luke 1:26-38 - New International Version." Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201:26%E2%80%931:38&version=!.

3. "A Discussion of The Annunciation by Leonardo Da Vinci." TripImprover - Get More out of Your Museum Visits!, www.tripimprover.com/blog/the-annunciation-by-leonardo-da-vinci.

4. Jones, Christopher P. "Symbols in Art: The Annunciation." Medium, 19 June 2020, medium.com/thinksheet/symbols-in-art-the-annunciation-7347bddb89d.

5. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 7 Sept. 2001, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci. Accessed 24 Oct. 2021.

6. "What Does Pyramid Configuration Mean?" JanetPanic.com – World History Portal, janetpanic.com/what-does-pyramid-configuration-mean/.

Images

1. Annunciation (Artemisia Gentileschi). (2024, May 2). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 8, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation_%28Artemisia_Gentileschi%29

2. Annunciation. (2025, May 11). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 8, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation