Annuciatio is a recurring motif in Catholic art, depicting the scene of the angel Gabriel announcing the Virgin Mary of the immaculate conception by the Holy Spirit and of the birth of Jesus. The three pictures employ the identical composition to show this motif. Meanwhile, the contrast of their contents and ways of presentation prove the communication and localization of Catholicism in China.

The first picture is selected from Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (Antwerp: 1593) made by Jerome Nadal (1507-1580), who was one of the first ten members of Jesuits. On behalf of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, he once went to European branches of the Society of Jesus in order to preach sermons based on its Charter. He then assembled painters to work on the book Evangelicae Historiae Imagines on Loyala's instructions since the year of 1574. Later in the year of 1598, Jesuit Nicholas Longobardi wrote to Rome with a request of mailing the copperplate picture collections to China, making it as the origin for the other two pictures mentioned later.

Reference:

^[1]. D'Arelli, Francesco. (1997). I libri cinesi di G. Francesco Nicolai, O.F.M. nel fondo Borgia cinese della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Archivum franciscanum historicum, 90, 526-532.

^[2]. 莫小也. (2011). 17-18世紀傳教士與西畫東漸. 杭州：中國美術學院出版社.

^[3]. 陳煥強. (2013). 明清天主教《聖經》故事版畫圖像敘事研究. 廣州：暨南大學.

^[4]. 謝輝. (2015). 梵蒂岡圖書館藏艾儒略著作二種版本考略. 國際漢學, (3), 178-184, 205.