More info about the Van Eyck Annunciation

SCENES OF HEROISM

The floor has illustrations of one man doing great things (in this case,
Sampson destroying the enemies of God)

COMPLEX COMPOSITION

The composition uses two perspectives: the foreground objects have a
vanishing point somewhere in Mary’s abdomen, thus focusing attention on
where Jesus is conceived. The other lines have their vanishing point just
past the righthand side of the painting.

THE TRINITY

God the Father appears in the stained-glass window at the top, God the
Son is in Mary’s womb, and God the Holy Spirit is the dove descending
on the golden sunbeams.

INTRICATE DETAILS

At left, see how the crystal of Gabriel’s scepter is translucent, allowing
part of his hand and the pillar in the back to be visible. Also, note
the light refracted through the circular glass in the topmost picture.

THE MOST ASTONISHING DETAIL

The painting is only a little over a foot wide and slightly less than
three feet tall. It was the left panel of a triptych, a three-part painting that
usually had one central painting in the middle, with two painted panels
on the sides that closed to conceal all of the paintings. Typically, a
sacred triptych would have been closed except during Mass, at which time
it would have been opened while the priest was at the altar.

The congregation would have been too far away to see any fine details
(though they would have been able to see that it was the Annunciation),
and the priest would have been busy praying. This meticulous work — hours
of sketching, layering expensive pigmented oil paints, getting the simulated
lighting and skin tones just right — would have scarcely been seen by
anyone except God Almighty.

More information about the painting is at the National
Gallery of Art.