Annunciation (Memling)
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The Annunciation by Hans Memling is an Early Netherlandish oil-on-oak painting, partially transferred to canvas, measuring 30 1/8 x 21 1/2 in. (76.5 x 54.6 cm). It is held in the Robert Lehman collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York. Executed c. 1482 (or c. 1489), it depicts the Virgin in a domestic interior with two attendant angels at her side and archangel Gabriel, who is dressed in rich ecclesiastical robes.[1] Based on the left wing of Rogier van der Weyden's Saint Columba Altarpiece, Memling goes beyond mere imitation. The Virgin in rendered in a highly unusual position in which she appears to be simultaneously kneeling and swooning. The swoon hearkens to the future and the Christ's death. The iconography is straightforward in the form of seemingly ordinary objects, which symbolize the Virgin's purity and light.
The painting's frame survived until the 19th century and was believed to be inscribed with a date of 1482. More recent research suggests the final number was misread and is a nine, making the execution date 1489. Generally scholars are inclined to believe the 1489 date to be more in keeping with Memling's style of the late 1480s.[1]
References
- ^ a b "The Annunciation". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
Sources
- Ainsworth, Maryan Ainsworth. "Hans Memling". Maryan Ainsworth, et al. (eds.), From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998. ISBN 0-87099-870-6
- Snyder, James (ed.). The Renaissance in the North. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. ISBN 0-87099-432-2