The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

The Annunciation

c. 1580

Paolo Veronese

(Italian, 1528–1588)

and Workshop

Italy, 16th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 176 x 159.5 x 9.5 cm (69 5/16 x 62 13/16 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 150 x 133.4 cm (59 1/16 x 52 1/2 in.)

Gift of the Hanna Fund 1950.251

Location

118 Italian Renaissance

Fun Fact

The white lilies held by Gabriel are a symbol of Mary's purity and innocence, often appearing in depictions of the Annunciation.

Description

Although Veronese is best known for his large-scale, pageant-like presentations, here the artist has taken the narrative of the Annunciation (the announcement of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and bear a son) and compressed the figures close to one another, creating a startling intimacy. According to a tradition established by the medieval writer Saint Bernard, Mary has been reading from the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah (7:14), "A young woman is with child and she will bear a son."

Provenance
1950-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Until 1950
(Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1
Probably 1933 - c. 1950
Albert Koppel, Switzerland and Toronto, Ontario, consigned to Rosenberg & Stiebel 2
Probably 1913-1933
Leopold Koppel [1854-1933], Berlin, by descent to his son, Albert Koppel 3
Until 1913
Balboni collection, Venice, probably sold to Leopold Koppel 4

Provenance Footnotes

1 Saemy Rosenberg visited Koppel in Toronto during the war and it was determined that Rosenberg & Stiebel would sell Koppel's collection
2 After leaving Germany, Alfred Koppel went to Switzerland before settling in Toronto.
3 Leopold Koppel was a prominent banker and entrepreneur with an extensive collection. Art historian Wilhelm von Bode [d. 1929], who advised Koppel on his collection, likely expected him to leave it to the Kasier-Friedrich-Museum (now the Bode Museum), which Bode had established in 1904. The donation never materialized, however, as the Koppel famly had to leave Germany when Hitler came to power.
4 Max J. Friedlaender's handwritten inventory of Leopold Koppel's collection, apparently the earliest documentation for the Veronese, states that Koppel purchased the painting in 1913 from Balboni in Venice. Balboni may refer to Carlo Balboni, a dealer in Venice who appears in the provenances of a series of works by Pietro Longhi currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Citations
Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Henry S. Francis, Nov. 3, 1966, in CMA curatorial file.
Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to William Milliken, June 30, 1950, in CMA curatorial file.
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Henry S. Francis, Nov. 3, 1966, in CMA curatorial file.
Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.
Hadeln, Detlev, Hermann Voss, and Morton H. Bernath. Archiv Für Kunstgeschichte. Leipzig: E.A. Seemann, 1913.
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Henry S. Francis, Nov. 3, 1966, in CMA curatorial file.
Brilliant, Virginia, et al. Paolo Veronese: A Master and His Workshop in Renaissance Venice. London, England: Scala, 2012.
Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 198
Saemy Rosenberg, letter to Henry S. Francis, Nov. 3, 1966, in CMA curatorial file.
Archiv Für Kunstgeschichte II, no. 3 (1914-1915): no. 50. Mentioned: No. 50; reproduced: Taf. 50
Francis, Henry S. "Annunciation by Veronese." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XXXVIII no.2 (February, 1951): 39-40. Reproduced: cover, p. 17; Detail p. 18
Milliken, William M. "1916 Cleveland 1951." ARTnews XLIX, no. 2 (1951): 30-37. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 34
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” January 11, 1951, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
"Recent Acquisitions." Pictures on Exhibit XIII, no. 5 (February 1951): 50-53. Mentioned: P. 53
"Nachrichten." Die Kunst (March 1951): 121-125. Mentioned: P. 122
"Museum News." Museums Journal LI (April 1951): 19-22. Mentioned: P. 22
Vertova, Luisa. Veronese. Milano, Italy: Electa, 1952.
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance; A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Venetian School. New York, NY: Phaidon Publishers; distributed by Garden City Books, 1957. Mentioned: p. 130, vol. I; Reproduced: pl. 1077, vol. II
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance; A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Venetian School. New York: Phaidon Publishers; distributed by Garden City Books, 1957. Mentioned: Vol. I, P. 130; Reproduced: Vol. II, pl. 1077
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 417 archive.org
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. "Tiziano, Tintoretto e Veronese a Toronto." Arte Veneta: Rivista di Storia dell'Arte XII-XIV (1959-1960): 300. Mentioned: P. 300
Art Gallery of Toronto. Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, with a Group of Sixteenth-Century Venetian Drawings: a loan exhibition 12 February-13 March 1960.Toronto, Ontario, 1960. Reproduced: no. 15
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 98 archive.org
Marini, Remigio. L'opera completa del Veronese. Milano, Italy: Rizzoli Editore, 1968. Mentioned: p. 130; Reproduced: p. 131
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 98 archive.org
Heineman, Rudolf J. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection [Established in Memory of Dr. H.C. August Thyssen. Castagnola: Villa Favorita, 1969. Mentioned: P. 346
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972. Mentioned: p. 39, 305, 374
Pignatti, Terisio, and Veronese. Veronese. Venezia, Italy: Alfieri, 1976. Mentioned: p. 96, 162, 193, vol. I; Reproduced: figs. 679-82, vol. II.
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 114 archive.org
Hadeln, Detlev, and Gunter Schweikhart. Paolo Veronese. Florenz, Italy: Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz, 1978. Mentioned: p. 92, 116; Reproduced: fig. 97
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 450; Reproduced: p. 451
Gemin, Massimo. Nuovi studi su Paolo Veronese. Venezia, Italy: Arsenale editrice, 1990. Reproduced: p. 209, fig. 165
"1992 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 6 (1993): 215-95. Mentioned: p. 238 www.jstor.org
Pignatti, Terisio, Veronese, and Filippo Pedrocco. Veronese. Milano, Italy: Electa, 1995. Mentioned: p. 452-453; Reproduced: np. 349
Nitti, Patrizia. Veronese: Gods, Heroes and Allegories. Milan, Italy: Skira, 2004. Mentioned: p. 124; Reproduced: p. 125
Ilchman, Frederick, and Linda Borean. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Boston, MA: MFA Publications, 2009. Reproduced: p. 214, cat. 41
Brilliant, Virginia, et al. Paolo Veronese: A Master and His Workshop in Renaissance Venice. London,United Kingdom: Scala, 2012. Reproduced: p. 145, fig. 24
Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced: p. 55 archive.org
Exhibition history

Survey of Italian Art. Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (November 8-December 8, 1957).

Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese with a Group of Sixteenth-Century Venetian Drawings. Art Gallery of Ontario,Toronto, Ontario ( February 12-March 13, 1960).

Masterpieces of the 16th Century Art. Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY (October 15-November 15, 1964).

The Adriatic Sea: A Civilization Between Borders and Frontiers. Fondo Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona, Italy (March-July 2001).

The Secular Veronese. (Musee du Luxembourg, Paris, France (September 22, 2004-January 30, 2005); Musee Correr, Venice, Italy (February 11-May 29, 2005).

Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA (March 15-August 6, 2009; Musee du Louvre, Paris, France (September 14, 2009-January 5, 2010).

The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957).

In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).

Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).

Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).

Paolo Veronese: Versatile Master of Renaissance Venice. John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL (organizer) (December 6, 2012-April 14, 2013).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.251