Gallery E

The Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive the Son of God; she holds a Bible open at words from the prophet Isaiah which echo Gabriel’s: ‘Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son...’The conception takes place at the moment she hears the words, which is why a ti...

This painting is from the back of the predella (the bottom tier) of Duccio’s Maestà – a double-sided, five-tiered altarpiece made for the high altar of Siena Cathedral.It shows Jesus healing a blind man, an episode told in John’s Gospel. Jesus is shown wiping a mixture – made from mud and his own...

Christ stands at the centre of this small square panel. The moment shown is the Transfiguration, when Jesus ascended a mountain and became filled with heavenly light, shown here by the golden striations (stripes) on his robes. Suddenly the Old Testament prophets Moses (on his left) and Elijah (on...