The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

The Annunciation

1380s

Netherlands, or possibly France, 14th century

tempera and oil with gold on wood

Framed: 40.3 x 31.4 x 4.8 cm (15 7/8 x 12 3/8 x 1 7/8 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1954.393

Location: 109 Gothic Painting and Sculpture

Did You Know?

In this depiction of Gabriel, the angel's wings resemble the feathers of a peacock.

Description

This small but opulent panel painting was once joined to another panel with hinges to form a diptych. Given its small size, its original function was for private devotional use. It could be folded like a book when not in use and was highly portable. The missing panel has not been positively identified but probably represented another biblical scene like the Crucifixion. The painting’s refined and ornate style reflects the courtly aesthetic that appealed to royal and aristocratic patrons in the decades around 1400. On the panel’s richly tooled reverse (not visible) are the arms of the house of Hainault quartered with those of Bavaria. While this coat of arms is certainly that of the work’s patron, probably a member of the united dynasties of Hainault and Bavaria, their identity remains elusive.

1863-1925
Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, Germany
(C. A. de Burlet, Berlin, Germany)
?-1926
(R. Langton Douglas)
1926-1954
Arthur Sachs, New York sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1954-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Parthey, G. Deutscher Bildersaal: Verzeichniss der in Deutschland vorhandenen Oelbilder verstorbener Maler aller Schulen, in alphabetischer Folge zusammengestellt. Berlin: Nicolaische, 1863. p. 216
Volbach, Wolfgang Fritz. Die Sammlung Silten. Berlin: Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1923. Cat. No. 204, p. 74
Sperling, Emil M. Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of French Primitives and Objects of Art: In Aid of the French Hospital in New York. New York: Kleinberger Galleries, 1927. Cat. No. 4.
Winkler, Friedrich "Ein Unbehanntes französisches Tafelbild" Belvedere XI (1927).
"Masterpieces of Early Religious Art," New York Harold Tribune (March 20, 1927).
Detroit Institute of Arts. The Seventh Loan Exhibition; French Gothic Art of the 13th to 15th Century. Nov. 16 to Dec. 5, 1928. [Detroit]: Institute of Arts, 1928. cat. no. 1
Jacques Seligmann & Co. Loan Exhibition of Religious Art: For the Benefit of the Basilique of the Sacre Coeur of Paris at the Galleries of Jacques Seligmann ... New York, March-April 1927. New York: The Gallery, 1928. Cat. No. 1.
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, Ludwig Burchard, and Alfred Scharf. Unknown Masterpieces in Public and Private Collections. New York: E. Weyhe, 1930. p. 70
Lemoisne, Paul-André, and Ronald Boothroyd. Gothic painting in France, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Firenze: Pantheon, casa editrice, 1931. pl. 26
LABANDE, Léon Honoré. Les Primitifs Français. Peintres Et Peintres-Verriers De La Provence Occidentale. (Texte.-Planches.). 1932. p. 220, vol. II, pl. 19
Tolnay, Charles de. Zur Herkunft des Stiles der Van Eyck. München: [s.n.], 1932. p. 321-2
Exhibition of French Art 1200-1900: Royal Academy of Arts. London: Burlington House, 1932. Cat. No. 196
Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain). Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of French Art, 1200-1900. London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1933. No. 1, Cat. No. 6, p. 2
Robb, David M. "The Iconography of the Annunciation in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries". Art Bulletin / Ed. John Shapley [U.a.]. (1936) 480-526. p. 490, fig. 13
Bazin, Germain. La Peinture Francaise, Des Origines Au XVIe Siecle. Paris: Braun, 1937. p. 17, pl. 16
Dupont, Jacques. Les primitifs français: 1350-1500. Paris: Plon, 1937. p. 23
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Bouchage, Luc, "Louvre to California: Today's Collectors: Arthur Sachs," Art News 45 (October 1946). p. 74-5
Ring, Grete. A Century of French Painting, 1400-1500. London: Phaidon Press, 1949. p. 24, 193, pl. 17, cat. no. 16
Musée du Petit Palais (Paris, France). La Vierge dans l'art français. Paris: Presses artistiques, 1950. Cat. No. 6
Carnegie Institute. French Painting, 1100-1900. 1951. Cat. No. 26.
Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origins and Character. 1953. p. 82
Dupont, Jacques, and C. Gnudi. The Great Centuries of Painting. 1954. p. 126
Francis, Henry S. "A Fourteenth-Century "Annunciation"." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 10 (1955). pp. 215-219 www.jstor.org
Art Quartely vol XVIII, no. 4 (Winter 1955). p. 405
Winkler, review of Early Netherlandish Painting by Erwin Panofsky, Kunstchronki, VIII (1955). p. 12
Pächt, Otto. "Panofsky's 'Early Netherlandish Painting'-I." The Burlington Magazine 98, no. 637 (1956). p. 113 www.jstor.org
Francis, Henry, “A Fourteenth-Century "Annunciation “ Art Quarterly XIX, no. 1 (Spring 1956). pp. 72, 84-7
Réau, Louis. Iconographie De L'art Chretien. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1955. p. 181, footnote 2
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 395 archive.org
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Musper, H. Theodor. Gotische Malerei nördlich der Alpen. Köln: M. DuMont Schauberg, 1961. p. 264, fig. 226
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Bober, Harry, "Medieval Art in Cleveland," Apollo LXXCIII (1963). p. 456
Châtelet, Albert, and Jacques Thuillier. French Painting: From Fouquet to Poussin. Geneva: Skira, 1963. p. 15
Cleveland Museum of Art. A Missal for a King. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1963. Reproduced: p. 1 archive.org
Eisler, Colin, "Le Gothique International," Art de France IV (1964). p. 290
Bazin, Germain. Kindlers Malerei Lexikon: 1000 Malersignaturen, 1200 farbige Reproducktionen, 3000 schwarzweisse Reproduktionen in sechs Bänden. 1964. p. 201
Frinta, Mojmír Svatopluk. 1965. "An Investigation of the Punched Decoration of Mediaeval Italian and Non-Italian Panel Paintings". Art Bulletin / Ed. John Shapley [U.a.]. 261-265. p. 264
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 63 archive.org
Laclotte, Michel. Primitifs français. [Paris]: Hachette, 1966. p. 14-15
Castelnuovo, Enrico. Il gotico internazionale in Europa. Milano: Fratelli Fabbri, 1966. p. 22, pl. 11
Wixom, William D. Treasures from Medieval France. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. pp. 242-243 archive.org
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Musée du Louvre, and Council of Europe. L'Europe gothique, XIIe XIVe siècles. Musée du Louvre, Pavillon de Flore, Paris, 2 avril-1er juillet 1968. Paris: Ministère d'État, Affaires culturelles, 1968. no. 300, p. 186
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 63 archive.org
Wixom, William D. "An Enthroned Madonna with the Writing Christ Child." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 9 (1970). p. 290, 297, fig. 11 www.jstor.org
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Sterling, Charles. "Fighting Animals in the Adoration of the Magi." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 10 (1974): 350-59. Footnote No. 4 www.jstor.org
Meiss, Millard, Sharon Off Dunlap Smith, and Elizabeth H. Beatson. French Painting in the Time of Jean De Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries. New York: George Braziller, 1974. p. 87, 446, n. 52
Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings Before 1500. Cleveland: The Museum, 1974. . pp. 21-24, cat. no. 8
Sterling, Charles, Albert Châtelet, and Nicole Reynaud. Études D'art Français Offerts À Charles Sterling. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1975. pp. 47-63
Schmidt, Gerhard. 1975. "Zur Datierung des "kleinen" Bargello-Diptychons und der Verkündigungstafel in Cleveland". Etudes D'art Français Offertes À Charles Sterling / Réunies Et Publiées Par Albert Châtelet Et Nicole Reynaud. 47-63. p. 33
Castelfranchi Vegas, Liana. Romanico e gotico. Milano: Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1976. p. 20
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 71 archive.org
Sutton, Denys, "Dramatic Days" Apollo: A Journal of the Arts (June 1979) p. 454
Raeber-Keel, Ursula. Spätgotische Wandmalereien in St. [i.e. Sankt] Peter zu Basel: Die Grabnische mit den Efringerwappen. Sigmaringen: J. Thorbecke, 1979. p. 171, no. 109
Moench, Esther. "Stefano da Verona: La Quete d'Une Double Paternite" Zeitschrift Fur Kunstgeschichte. 2 (1986) pp. 220-228
Cleveland Museum of Art. Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. 1991. p. 8
Šebková-Thaller, Zuzana. Sünde und Versöhnung in Jan van Eycks Hochzeitsbild. Markt Berolzheim: Hernoul-le-Fin Verlag, 1992. p. 181, Tafel 83, no. 2
Castelnuovo, Enrico. Vetrate medievali: officine, techniche, maestri. Torino: G. Einaudi, 1994. pp. 170-171
König, Eberhard. Die Très belles heures von Jean de France duc de Berry: ein Meisterwerk an der Schwelle zur Neuzeit. München: Hirmer, 1998. no. 3, p. 244
Toman, Rolf, and Achim Bednorz. The art of Gothic: architecture, sculpture, painting. Köln: Könemann, 1999. p. 396
Gratton, Marie. Dessine-moi le mystère: regards sur l'art sacré. [Montréal]: Fides, 2002. pp. 32-33, 171
Fliegel, Stephen N., Sophie Jugie, and Virginie Barthélémy. Art from the Court of Burgundy: The Patronage of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless 1364-1419 : Musée Des Beaux-Arts De Dijon, May 28-September 15, 2004, the Cleveland Museum of Art, October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005. [Dijon]: Musée des beaux-arts, 2004. Cat.No.18, p. 66
Nys, Ludovic, Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, Xavier Fontaine, and Jacques Debergh. Campin in context: peinture et société dans la vallée de l'Escaut à l'époque de Robert Campin, 1375-1445. Valenciennes: Presses universitaires de Valenciennes, 2007. pp. 186-187
Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550. München: Hirmer, 2007. p. 207, no. 76
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 194-195, no. 96
Stroo, Cyriel, Dominique Deneffe, Famke Peters, and Wim Fremout. Pre-Eyckian panel painting in the Low Countries. Primitifs Flamands I, II and III. Brussels: [Brepols], 2009. p. 198, 200, fig. 12-13
Fajt, Jiří, and Markus Hörsch, eds. Kaiser Karl IV., 1316-2016: erste Bayerisch-Tschechische Landesausstellung: Ausstellungskatalog. Praha: Národní Galerie v Praze, 2016. Mentioned: p. 448; Reproduced: p. 449, fig. 10.8
Kosina, Elena and Ulf-Dietrich Korn. Die Mittelalterlichen Glasmalereien in Niedersachsen: Ohne Lüneburg und die Heideklöster. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 2017. Mentioned: p. 56-57; Reproduced: p. 58, fig. 27
Fajt, Jiří. Nürnberg als Kunstzentrum des Heiligen Römischen Reichs: höfische und städtische Malerei in der Zeit Kaiser Karls IV. 1346-1378. Berlin : Deutscher Kunstverlag ; Prag : Nationalgalerie Prag 2019. Reproduced: p. 122, Abb. 99, detail on p. 323, Abb. 352, detail on p. 407, abb. 455, detail on p. 514, Abb. 569
Emperor Charles IV (1316-1378). National Gallery Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (organizer) (May 14-September 25, 2016); Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 90402 Nürnberg, Germany (October 20, 2016-March 5, 2017).
Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
Dukes and Angels: Art from the Court of Burgundy (1364-1419). Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, Dijon, France (May 27-September 15, 2004); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005).
When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982).
Treasures of Medieval France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1966-January 29, 1967).
Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).
French Painting 1100-1900, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (Oct. 18th-Dec. 2, 1951).
La Vierge dans l'art Français, Petit Palais, Paris, France (June 1950).
Collection of Arthur Sachs, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA (July 22-October 18, 1946).
French Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy, London (January-March 1932).
French Gothic Art of the 13th to 15th Century, Detroit Institute of Arts, MI (Nov. 16 to Dec. 5, 1928).
French Primitives and Objects of Art, Kleinberger Galleries, New York, NY (Oct. 15 - Nov. 12, 1927).
Religious Art, Jacques Seligman & Co. Gallery, New York, NY (March-April 1927).
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA (1927).
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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1954.393