The Annunciation

At the lower left the Virgin Mary sits with her hand on a book on a lectern, one hand raised as she looks up to heaven. From the upper right, the archangel Gabriel, in a yellow robe with great spreading wings, appears on a cloud holding a white lily. Between the two, a white dove representing the Holy Spirit descends with light, and a vase with flowers stands at their feet.

While the Annunciation is often painted as a calm scene with the angel kneeling before the Virgin, this work has the angel appear on a cloud and sets strong light and color against a dark blue-green sky. The Virgin's red robe and blue-green mantle contrast vividly with the angel's yellow garment, producing a picture full of movement unlike the harmony of the Renaissance.

This work was bought in Paris in 1922 by the Western-style painter Kojima Torajiro, with the purchase supported by Ohara Magosaburo, then president of Kurashiki Spinning. Magosaburo opened the Ohara Museum of Art the year after Kojima's death in 1929 as a memorial to him, and this work is one of those that formed its foundation. In 2025 it underwent its first restoration in about 65 years, in which areas added in earlier restorations were removed.