The Annunciation was one of the Le Moyne’s most popular compositions, with many versions. The original is considered to be lost even though the artist gave it to the Académie. This picture is likely to be a modello for the finished work as it is very freely painted and does not betray the dry hand of a copyist. The proportions of the modello are rather different from those of the lost finished picture which is known from an engraving. The artist heightened the composition in the finished work by raising the figure of the Angel Gabriel further off the ground. The engraving also shows that, even with this adjustment, the finished picture was rather closer to the modello as the surviving copies, such as that in Saint Sulpice in Paris, are even more elongated.

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