Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood a ‘radical’ group which aimed to create real, natural poses. The annunciation was painted in 1850. This is a different view of a common subject matter from around this time. It shows the moment when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she’s pregnant and for once she looks frightened of the concept of giving birth to the son of god. She is shrinking always for the angel on the bed whilst the angel is trying to reassure her by the gentle hand gesture and the presentation of the lily.

I like this painting because of its simple palette and the soft style to the painting. The folds in the fabric of her dress are simple but beautifully highlighted. When thinking about recreating the image I decided to crop it to just the virgin because I don’t like the fire around the feet of the angel, I also wasn’t that keen of the face either as it looks to much like a orange blur.

This painting took me quite awhile to recreate as it goes into so much detail. But the main thing I found from doing this excise is that a lot of detail is implied by shadow and highlight. When I first started painting it was daunting but the further I got into painting it the more I realised it was just well placed colour and planning.