15th century was a high point in the production of woodcut images, especially in Germany. The timing couldn't have been better. As the newborn printing industry developed, woodcut images found a place in the printing forms along with carefully set type, providing illustrations and headings that at first had been done by hand. But stand alone images, hand-colored like this one, were common devotional articles (or destined for a Book of Hours). The Annunciation was a popular theme.
Image from the National Gallery of Art.
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