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Title

Annunciation

Flandes, Juan de (Posible procedencia de los Países Bajos, ca. 1465 - Palencia, ca. 1519)

Object
Painting
Date
1508-1519
Century
Cultural context / style
Flemish Painting
Dimensions
43 3/8 x 30 7/8 in
Material
Panel
Technique
Oil Painting
Iconography / Theme
Anunciación
Provenance
Church of San Lázaro in Palencia (Palencia, Spain)
Current location
The National Gallery of Art, Washington (Washington, United States)
Inventory Number in Current Collection
1961.9.22
Object history

It is one of the four panels by Juan de Flandes that entered the National Gallery of Washington from the old altarpiece of St. Lazarus in Palencia. It was commissioned to Juan de Flandes by Sancho of Castile, who was Prince Don Juan's ayo, to decorate the chapel where he was to be buried. In the 18th century, the altarpiece was very deteriorated and was replaced by another one where six of Juan de Flandes' panels are included, among them, this one of the Annunciation (Justi 1887). It was placed in the Epistle side, next to the Nativity (National Gallery, Washington) and the Resurrection of Lazarus (Museo del Prado, Madrid). In 1952, it appeared in the Frederick Mont Gallery in New York. On February 11, 1953, it was acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York and given to the National Gallery in Washington in 1961.

Description

In an interior, the Virgin seated Moorish-style in the foreground, on some cushions, stops reading the book she holds open in her hands to turn towards the angelic figure that appears on the left. The messenger of God, dressed in white and wearing a crown of roses, raises his hand in a gesture that reveals who has sent him to share his message with her. A message that she accepts, as the dove of the Holy Spirit appears above her head, with its wings spread out and recreated by the painter with great realism. This scene is completed with the pot of lilies on the sideboard in the background, alluding to her purity. Juan de Flandes synthesizes the episode to the main characters, achieving an intimacy between them that is not distracted by any element introduced in the scene. Even the chromatic range is reduced, with only the greenish blue of the Virgin's dress and mantle, and the green of the curtain behind the figure of the angel, and those small touches of red in one of the cushions and sleeves of the Virgin.

* The relative location of dealers, antique shops, art galleries, and collectors leads us to the places where they were based or had one of their main headquarters. However, this does not always indicate that every artwork that passed through their hands was physically located there. In the case of antique dealers and art merchants, their business often extended across multiple territories; sometimes they would purchase items at their origin and send them directly to clients. Similarly, some collectors owned multiple residences, sometimes in different countries, where they housed their collections. It is often difficult to determine exactly where a specific piece was kept during its time in their possession. Consequently, the main location of the dealer or collector is indicated. These factors should be considered when interpreting the map. Refer to the object's history in each case.
Bibliography
  • (1959): Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, p. 266.
  • BERMEJO, Elisa (1962): Juan de Flandes, Instituto Diego Velázquez, del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, pp. 28-31, 44.
  • BRANS, Jan V. L. (1953): "Juan de Flandes, pintor de la Reina y de Castilla", vol. 4, nº 21, Clavileño, pp. 29,32.
  • DE COO, Josef y REYNAUD, Nicole (1979): "Origen del retablo de San Juan Bautista atribuido a Juan de Flandes", nº 52, Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia, pp. 140-141.
  • EISLER, Colin (1977): Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian, Phaidon Press Ltd, Oxford, p. 127.
  • GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio (1958): La pintura española fuera de España (historia y catálogo), Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, p. 148.
  • Gudiol, José (1957): "Oeuvres inédites de Jean de Flandres", en Miscellanea Prof. Dr. D. Roggen, Antwerp, pp. 116,118.
  • HAND, John Oliver (2004): National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington and New York, p. 59.
  • Hand, John Oliver y Wolff, Martha (1986): Early Netherlandish Painting. The Colletions of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, Washington, pp. 125-133.
  • JUSTI, Carl (1908): Miscellaneen aus drei Jahrhunderten spanischen Kunstlebens, vol. 1, Grote, Berlín, p. 324.
  • JUSTI, Carl (1887): "Juan de Flandes, ein niederländischer Hofmaler Isabella der Katholischen", Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, p. 167.
  • LURIE, Ann Tzeutschler (1976): "Birth and Naming of St. John the Baptist Attributed to Juan de Flandes: A Newly Discovered Panel from a Hypothetical Altarpiece", nº 63, Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, p. 127.
  • MARTÍNEZ RUIZ, María José (2021): "Arcadio Torres Martín y sus negocios al servicio del tráfico de obras de arte desde España a Estados Unidos", nº 374, Archivo Español de Arte, pp. 148-149.
  • MAYER, August L. (1909): "Studien zur Quattrocento-malerei in Nordwestkastilien", nº 32, Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, p. 519.
  • POST, Chandler Rathfon (1958): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 12 (The Catalan School in the Early Renaissance), nº 2, Harvard University Press, Cambdrige (Massachusetts), pp. 615, 618,620.
  • POST, Chandler Rathfon (1933): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 4, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), pp. 45, 50.
  • SILVA MAROTO, Pilar (2006): Juan de Flandes, Caja Duero, Salamanca, pp. 418-420.
  • VAN PUYVELDE, Leo (1962): La peinture flamande au siècle de Bosch et Breughel, Elsevier, París, p. 353.
  • VANDEVIVERE, Ignace (1967): La cathèdrale de Palencia et l'église paroissiale de Cervera de Pisuerga, Centre National de Recherches Primitifs Flamands, Bruselas, pp. 44-47.
  • WENIGER, Matthias (2011): Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes. Drei Maler Aus Dem Norden Am Hof Isabellas von Kastilien, Ludwig, Kiel, pp. 250-254.
Citation:

Ana Diéguez Rodríguez, "Annunciation" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/219