There is an awkwardness to this painting. The perspective seems to be askew. And it has received criticism for this and other things. But I think it shows the budding genius. I will explain a bit and show you something here that I think is deceptively profound.

Here is the Painting. It is dated to have been painted from 1472 - 1476. It was painted in Florence Italy and it is now housed there in that city in the Uffizi museum.

I have a much larger version of this painting for you to really look at right here. It will open in your browser on it's own without being squeezed into a web page.

What this painting depicts is the intersection between two worlds (Heaven and Earth). It's a visual representation. It is something that is subtly hidden yet in plain sight.

There is an awkwardness about the composition and that is not an accident, or a failing. It is by design. Let me explain.

We have Earth on the right and Heaven on the Left. You can see this in how Earth is all arranged in a vertical composition The virgin mary sits upright. The corner she sits in almost enshrouds her. Everything is very vertical. It is a very enclosed space.

On th left, where Gabriel kneels everything is very horizonal.

There is a waist high wall behind the angel Gabriel. This wall is very important. It has a gap. And this gap represents the gap between heaven and earth. And you can see that Gabriel is reaching through that gap - almost touching the Earth. His hand is very close the Earth side of the gap which is what the painting is about - Gabriel reaching out from Heaven into the Earthly realm.

One more observation

So we have two different realms, Heaven and Earth. One is very horizontal and goes into the background as far as can be seen. The other is Vertical and is all foreground with no background. And what is placed at the location where these two realms meet?

A bible.