This can be accomplished using "convert" which is part of the ImageMagick 
suite. Something like this:
       To  annotate  an  image  with  blue  text  using  font  12x24 at 
position (100,100), use:
convert -font helvetica -fill blue -draw "text 100,100 Cockatoo"
                   bird.jpg bird-labeled.jpg
I use this for labeling Nexrad images after downloading them.
-Jim KB0THN