The present work takes its composition from Titian’s Annunciation (1540). Richter first encountered Titian's masterpiece in 1972, when his series 48 Portraits (1971-98) was featured at the Venice Biennale. He purchased a postcard of the work and began making copies when he returned to his studio in Germany, eventually producing a series of five paintings Annunciation after Titian in 1973 in which the blurring of the composition becomes more intense in each subsequent work. “I wanted to trace him as precisely as possible”, he stated, “maybe because I wanted to own such a beautiful Titian”.

Annunciation after Titian (P12) is based on the first of these five paintings, identified as 343-1 in Richter's catalogue raisonné. Printed at the same scale as the 1973 original, the print is a further expression of Richter's desire to own something by the Renaissance master and playfully engages with the market's desire to own a work by one of the highest-valued living artists.

This diasec-mounted giclée print on aluminum was printed in 2015 by HENI, who have worked with Richter on a number of editions, all denoted by an identifying "P" number (the present work is P12). The artist describes these editions as "facsimile objects" that are an offshoot of his paintings. Some have been altered slightly, while others represent paintings that no longer exist.