The Annunciation

The Archangel Gabriel blesses the Virgin with the most delicate extension of his arm. Resting gently between his fingers is a lily, symbol of purity. Mary’s eyes maintain a polite distance as she replies. Raising her hand with her palm open, she accepts the responsibility to be Christ’s mother. The exchange resembles a tactful court ritual—an impression enhanced by the painting’s extravagantly decorated candlelit interior.

Bedoli was a cousin by marriage of Parmigianino and the artist’s principal follower. He painted several religious works in Parma and assumed the role of the city’s leading painter after his master’s death in 1540. The church of the Annunciation in Bedoli’s native Viadana commissioned this altarpiece around 1555. A very fine oil sketch exists in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.