The Annunciation

Mathieu Le Nain's Annunciation from around 1650 represents the work of the youngest of the three Le Nain brothers who were among the most distinctive painters of seventeenth-century France. While the Le Nain brothers are best known for their peasant scenes, they also produced religious works that brought the same quiet naturalism and restrained palette to sacred subjects. The attribution of specific works among the three brothers remains one of the most contested problems in French art history.

The composition presents the Annunciation with the characteristic Le Nain restraint and quiet dignity. The muted palette of grays and browns, the still, contemplative figures, and the absence of theatrical gesture distinguish this from the more dramatic Italian Baroque treatments of the subject.