Archangel Gabriel and Virgin Annunciate

The rank stated, and the exchange with it

This title does two things the companion entry of 1506 does not: it gives the messenger his rank and his name, and it names the woman as the Virgin Annunciate — the participle that marks her as the one being addressed. An annunciation is a two-part subject, and a title that carries both parts is describing a transaction rather than a figure. Gabriel is the only archangel in the tradition whose fixed office is speech.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates the work to 1505 and gives Gerard David, a Flemish painter, with Northern Renaissance as the style term. No dimensions are recorded. The measured colour family is neutral. No location is recorded.

Four Gabriels in two hundred and twenty-four

Michael appears in eight titles here, Raphael in six, Gabriel in four. That order is the inverse of what devotional prominence might suggest, and it follows from what painting needs: Michael's armour and Raphael's travelling companions are visually distinctive, while Gabriel is often absorbed into the scene he belongs to and recorded under the name of the episode instead of his own. This record supplies no dimensions and no location.