''The Annunciation'' (sometimes ''Diptych of The Annunciation'') is an oil on wood in

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; , from ''gris'' 'grey') means in general any European painting that is painted in grey. History Giotto used grisaille in the lower registers of his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua () and Robert Campin, Jan van Ey ...

painting by the

Early Netherlandish Early Netherlandish painting is the body of work by artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period, once known as the Flemish Primitives. It flourished especially in the ...

artist

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( ; ; – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Nort ...

, dated by art historians as between 1434 and 1436. The panels form a

diptych A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a ...

, and are currently in the collection of the

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...

, Madrid. The figures and iconography are very similar to those in the outer panels of van Eyck's earlier ''

Ghent Altarpiece The ''Ghent Altarpiece'', also called the ''Adoration of the Mystic Lamb'' (), is a very large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420s and completed by 1432, and it ...

'' completed in 1432.Jacobs, X However, their relative small scale suggests commission for private worship rather than public celebration.

Description

The panels show the

Archangel Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

on the left and the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

on the right. Both are dressed in white robes. The figures of Mary and Gabriel are disproportionately large in relation to the scale of the rooms they occupy. Art historians agree that this follows the conventions of both the International Gothic and late Byzantine traditions of the icon by showing saints, especially Mary, in a much larger scale than their surroundings. The saints are placed on carved and inscribed

pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

s and

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s. Heavy foldings of lighting fall across the space they occupy and accentuates the heavy fold of their drapery. Mary holds her typical attribute of a holy book, while a dove hovers above her representing the purity and the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

. Despite the dramatic setting and black marble background, the figures are given northern renaissance naturalistic poses and very human gestures. The diptych is highly illusionistic.Borchert, 61 The predominant colours are multi-layered shades of white and black, intended to mimic stone sculpture creating a sense of living statues. The painted frames and mouldings are very early examples of ''

trompe-l'œil ; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...

'', with faux spoken inscriptions. They contain the words of the Angel and Mary (from Luke 1: 26–38), and read; by the Archangel: ''Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee'', and from Mary: ''('Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word''.

Attribution

If the attribution is accepted, it is placed as very early in his career and probably as two outer wings of a triptych; the ''

Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...

'' in Washington has a far more accomplished treatment and more likely intended as a complete work.Borchert, 51

Footnotes

References

* Jacobs, Lynn F. ''Opening Doors: The Early Netherlandish Triptych Reinterpreted''. Penn State University Press, 2012. * Borchert, Till-Holger. ''Van Eyck''. London: Taschen, 2008. {{ACArt 1430s paintings Paintings by Jan van Eyck

van Eyck Van Eyck or Van Eijk () is a Dutch language, Dutch toponymic surname. ''Eijck'', ''Eyck'', ''Eyk'' and ''Eijk'' are all archaic spellings of modern Dutch ("oak") and the surname literally translates as "from/of oak". However, in most cases, the fam ...

Books in art Trompe-l'œil paintings Diptychs Oil on panel paintings