'The Annunciation', Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898

Religious art is not really my bag. I loved - and remember quite clearly - a picture of Jesus that was on the wall of a church room when I started Sunday School, and I loved that, but that's about it.

Somewhere, though, I saw this picture of Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel, in which the latter is represented as a column of light. I assumed it was modern and I was surprised to discover that in was painted at the end of the nineteenth century. It's called 'The Annunciation' and it was painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner.

I found it - and continue to find it - quite moving, and I actually bought a giclée print of it, which now resides on a cabinet in the house in Salford, where the Minx has tastefully illuminated it.