In icons, the Virgin Mary is painted on a throne, sometimes in front of an open book, occasionally a thread ball and purple yarn. The idea behind that image was that the Holy Virgin was weaving a veil for the Temple of Jerusalem. Also in front of her, there is usually the Archangel Gabriel with a staff and a beam of light with the Holy Spirit in white dove disguise in it. 

The icon was painted in the first third of the 19th century in the city of Romanov-Borisoglebsk (now Tutayev). Researchers suppose that the author of the icon may have been Maxim Fyodorovich Arkhipovsky. The Annunciation icon is similar in style to those images by him that have the master’s original signature. Judging by the comments in old church books, Maxim Arkhipovsky was the most prominent representative of that icon painting dynasty of old believers. He received icon orders for family chapels from major industrialists and merchants, who belonged to the old believers’ church as well. Arkhipovsky’s works were valued highly. He sold icons and probably did well enough to start his own business because in 1826 records he already signed as a merchant.

Arkhipovsky’s painting style featured a clear geometry of architectural forms, yet it was exquisite and ornamental. He did not only paint the faces of the archangel and Virgin Mary but also a richly decorated interior with numerous ciphers and intricate patterns on the walls. He made the picture in reserved, subdued colours, with noble shades of malachite and dark olives. The faces were painted in the traditional multilayer manner, namely he applied a few layers of ochre, from terra-cotta to sand, on the dark underpaint and then blanched the outstanding areas.