It is thought that this icon of the Annunciation is the work of a 16th-century Novgorod artist. The subject is taken from the Gospels, in which we read how the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary with great tidings of the forthcoming birth of a Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The artist showed Mary turning her head towards the angel shyly. In her open right hand and in the left hand which rests on her knee we see red thread with a ball and a spindle, an indication of her industry and virtue. This was the standard representation of the Annunication as found on icons and Holy Doors in the 15th to 17th centuries. A number of indications suggest a date of the 16th century. We can trace elements of the Novgorod traditions in the bright contrasting colours and wealth of red.