NAPLES, LATE 16TH CENT. Annunciation. Oil on wood. 91.5 × 70.2 cm. Provenance: - Auction Hermann Ball and Paul Graupe, Berlin, 10 Dec. 1932, lot 10 (as Giulio Romano). - Auction Dr Walther Achenbach, Berlin, 10.3.1937, lot 51 (as Giulio Romano). - Swiss private collection. This painting from the late 16th century is a very good and art-historically valuable example of an Annunciation scene. It depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to her that she will conceive and give birth to the Son of God from the Holy Spirit. Numerous aspects typical of the motif of the Annunciation can be found in our painting. For example, the moment of the Annunciation depicted, which surprises the Virgin Mary as she studies the Bible, takes place in an interior room. The white lily in the angel's hand refers to Mary's virginity, while the white dove symbolises the Holy Spirit. This painting thus combines the central motifs of the key religious scene depicted.