diff --git a/pypdf/annotations/_markup_annotations.py b/pypdf/annotations/_markup_annotations.py
index 580b8bf58..5d7da5659 100644
--- a/pypdf/annotations/_markup_annotations.py
+++ b/pypdf/annotations/_markup_annotations.py
@@ -103,12 +103,17 @@ def __init__(
         self[NameObject("/Subtype")] = NameObject("/FreeText")
         self[NameObject("/Rect")] = RectangleObject(rect)
 
+        # Table 225 of the 1.7 reference ("CSS2 style attributes used in rich text strings")
         font_str = "font: "
-        if bold:
-            font_str = f"{font_str}bold "
         if italic:
             font_str = f"{font_str}italic "
-        font_str = f"{font_str}{font} {font_size}"
+        else:
+            font_str = f"{font_str}normal "
+        if bold:
+            font_str = f"{font_str}bold "
+        else:
+            font_str = f"{font_str}normal "
+        font_str = f"{font_str}{font_size} {font}"
         font_str = f"{font_str};text-align:left;color:#{font_color}"
 
         default_appearance_string = ""