GRECO, El
(b. 1541, Candia, d. 1614, Toledo)

The Annunciation

1596-1600
Oil on canvas, 114 x 65 cm
Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao

There are two other versions of this Annunciation composition: one in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Madrid, and another in the Prado. The painting in the Prado is larger than the other two, it was part of the main altarpiece in the church of the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación. It can be assumed that the version in Bilbao also belonged to an altarpiece, which was formed with an Adoration of the Shepherds and a Baptism of Christ, presently both in the Galleria Nazionale in Rome.

Painted in a free-flowing manner and with a splendid colour range, this painting is a representative late work by El Greco.