# The Annunciation to Zacharias; (verso) The Angel of the Annunciation

**Giovanni di Paolo** (Italian, 1398–1482)  
ca. 1455–60  
Tempera and gold on wood  
Overall: 29 7/8 in. × 17 in. (75.9 × 43.2 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.1.37. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/458977).

## About this work

In the Temple at Jerusalem the aged priest Zacharias is visited by the angel Gabriel, who announces that his wife Elizabeth, long childless, will bear a son, the future John the Baptist. Zacharias doubts, and is struck dumb until the child is born. Giovanni di Paolo, the Sienese painter, made this panel in the later 1450s as part of a series of scenes from the Baptist’s life; the angel of the Annunciation painted on the back suggests that it once formed part of a hinged or double-sided ensemble.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Giovanni di Paolo painted this in about 1455–60, aged about 54. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Gold ground.** Gold leaf laid over a red clay and burnished to a mirror shine, often tooled with punches so it flickers in candlelight. Behind sacred figures it stands for heavenly light.
- **Tempera.** Pigment bound with egg yolk. It dries in minutes and can’t be blended wet, so painters built up form with fine, hatched strokes. It was Europe’s main panel technique before oil.

### [Giovanni di Paolo](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/giovanni-di-paolo)

Italian, 1398–1482; born in Siena; died in Siena

Giovanni di Paolo spent his long career in Siena, where he was one of the city’s leading painters through the fifteenth century. Holding to the Sienese tradition of gold grounds and graceful line, he created a highly personal world of slender figures, steep, patterned landscapes and vivid storytelling, seen in narrative panels such as Saint John the Baptist Entering the Wilderness and The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was about 54
- Real size: about 30 × 17 in (76 × 43 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 18 × 24 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 15th century
- Subjects: Men, Angels, Saint John the Baptist, Annunciation
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1246.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1246/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-annunciation-to-zacharias-verso-the-angel-of-the-annunci-met-458977).