Annunciation (Archangel Gabriel and Virgin Mary)

In the 17th and 18th centuries, carved wooden figures with powerful visual effects replaced the stone figures that had dominated the types of sculptures produced by the Coimbra workshops for the diocese of Viseu. A profusion of saints and invocations of the Virgin Mary invaded the altars of public and private chapels, associated with the impetus for a renewal of decorative motifs, widely announced in the Books of Visitations and Provisions of the Chapter of Viseu Cathedral.
The figures of the Angel and the Virgin of the Annunciation, originating from the Episcopal Palace of Fontelo, both of them from the early 17th century, seem to testify to the orthodoxy of the Tridentine system, in the figurative immobility of their gestures and the celestial serenity of their faces, fixing an exemplary evangelical episode, in which one can detect a heavily catechetic intention.