This depiction of the angel's announcement to Mary is a tempera painting on a wooden panel created for a church in a monastery, the Church of Cestello. The art by Sandro Botticelli is an example of Italian Renaissance painting styles. Botticelli's Mary exists in an Italian interior with a view of the Italian landscape through the window. The painting dynamically depicts Mary at a moment of interruption. Mary has been reading scripture, when an angel bursts into her room with an invitation from God. Mary turns and reaches toward the angel, which gives Botticelli an opportunity to showcase his skill in rendering the human form in motion. The angel casts a shadow. Both figures are lifelike and were designed to draw their first viewers into a scene from Christ's life depicted in their own day and time.