The scene depicts the Archangel Gabriel's announcement to Mary who is in the desert while drawing water from a stream. In the lower left-hand corner an adult pelican, a symbol in the Middle Ages of Christ, is depicted in the act of feeding her young. The few unusual environmental elements provide an atypical iconography, a desolate landscape that renders the characters bewildered: an allusion to the condition of man before the coming of Christ. Below this scene is written in Latin Gabriel's greeting: "Hail, O full of grace, the Lord is with thee." and Mary's reply: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done in me according to thy word."