Artwork Page for The Annunciation

Details / Information for The Annunciation

The Annunciation

c. 1480

Albert Bouts

(Netherlandish, 1451/55–1549)
Culture
Netherlands, Leuven, 15th century
Medium
oil on wood
Measurements
Framed: 75.2 x 69 x 8.5 cm (29 5/8 x 27 3/16 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 50.2 x 41.5 cm (19 3/4 x 16 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.635
Public Domain
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Location
112 Northern Renaissance
Print
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Did You Know?

Netherlandish artists are known for their attention to lifelike detail: notice the sliver of landscape through the window at the left of this composition.

Description

The scene of the Annunciation to Mary that she will give birth to Christ is depicted here as a contemporary scene that may have been familiar to any viewer at the end of the 1400s. Mary is portrayed as an ordinary but wealthy woman who is interrupted by the Archangel Gabriel as she reads a book of hours. This type of book was enormously popular in the late Middle Ages as a prayer and devotional book, particularly among the wealthy, literate nobility, and city aristocracy.
Vertically-oriented oil painting depicting Mary turning towards an angel within a white-walled interior, a window with brown shutters and an ornate arch behind them. Both with light skin tone and curly, blonde hair, Mary wears rich blue robes subtly fringed in gold, her left hand resting on the pages of an open book as she turns and looks down. The angel wears an ornate gold and jewel-studded cloak over plain white robes, gesturing towards Mary with his right hand and holding a clear shaft topped with gold in the other.

The Annunciation

c. 1480

Albert Bouts

(Netherlandish, 1451/55–1549)
Netherlands, Leuven, 15th century

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