Out of Rome - House of the Blessed Virgin at Loreto. Sculpture of the Annunciation, A.D. 1520

Carved from wood, the relief demonstrates the fine modeling of drapery and the use of architectural frames to separate the two scenes. The detailed treatment of folds and the expressive gestures of the figures reflect the early‑sixteenth‑century Italian sculptural conventions that favored naturalistic representation within a devotional framework.

The photograph was produced in the 1860s as part of a large-scale documentation project directed by John Henry Parker, which aimed to capture Rome’s principal monuments and artworks from antiquity through the seventeenth century. Photographers such as Adriano De Bonis and Filippo Spina contributed to the series, which eventually comprised more than 3,300 images and were later published in Parker’s *Archaeology of Rome*. The Victoria and Albert Museum now holds many of these pre‑1870 photographs.

The relief was created for the House of the Blessed Virgin, a pilgrimage site associated with the Loreto Holy House, a revered Marian shrine. Its placement within this setting underscores the importance of the Annunciation narrative in fostering devotional experience among pilgrims during the Renaissance.