The Annunciation
by CARPACCIO, Vittore, Oil and tempera on canvas, 130 x 140 cm
This panel is part of a cycle Stories of the Virgin, originally painted for the Scuola degli Albanesi, the confraternity of the Albanian community. As trade rivals of the Dalmatian (Slav) merchant, for whom Carpaccio had painted the cycle in San Giorgio degli Schiavoni (Schiavoni is the Venetian for Slavs), the Albanians likewise commissioned a cycle, now dispersed in various Italian museums. The Annunciation is one of the finest and best preserved of the cycle.