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Annunciation
(Renaissance Europe )
This relief is from an altarpiece that probably depicted the life of Christ. The Archangel Gabriel appears to the Virgin carrying a scroll upon which his salutation: "Ave Maria gratia plena" ("Hail Mary, full of grace") probably appeared, as it does on the version below. God the Father holds an orb representing the universe and blesses the event. The vase of lilies, an allusion to the Virgin's purity, is often found in Annunciation scenes. The flamboyant sweep of Gabriel's immense wings, which encompasses the donor, a Franciscan monk, and gently caressing the Virgin, is a feature shared with reliefs from a workshop that flourished from the 1390s to the 1440s in the neighboring towns of Joinville and Vignory in northeast France. Most of these reliefs were intended to be painted. There is a second relief from the same workshop in the Walters, 27.253.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Jacques Seligmann, Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
France, Haute-Marne (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 12 13/16 x W: 17 in. (32.5 x 43.2 cm); Framed H: 14 3/16 x W: 18 5/16 x D: 3 1/16 in. (36 x 46.5 x 7.8 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911
Location in Museum
Centre Street: Third Floor: 15th-Century Art of Northern Europe
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
27.301
