The Annunciation
A woman and winged angel, both with pale, peach skin, are situated in a church interior in this tall, narrow painting. To our left, the angel has long, blond, curly hair, smooth skin, and is smiling. The wings are outlined in royal blue, and they blend from blue to green to yellow to crimson. The angel holds one hand, closer to us, up at chest height with the index finger subtly pointing upward. Holding a long scepter in the other hand, the angel angles their body toward the woman to our right. The angel wears a gold jewel and pearl-encrusted crown and a jeweled long, voluminous robe in scarlet-red and shimmering gold brocade. The neck and along the opening down the front are lined with pearls and jewels. The angel looks toward the woman, who wears a royal-blue dress tied with a red belt at the high waist. Her long brown hair is tied back but one tendril falls over her left shoulder, to our right. She kneels facing us with her raised hands facing outward. Her head is tipped a bit to our left, and she looks up and into the distance to our right with lips slightly parted. She kneels behind a book lying open on a low table. A vase of white lilies and a red cushion lies on the floor in front of the table, close to us. The floor is decorated with people and scenes outlined in black and set into square panels, as if inlaid with wood. The church behind and above the people has a row of tall, narrow arches with bull’s-eye glass windows. A walkway lined with columns runs above the arches, and sunlight comes in through arched windows under the flat wood ceiling. A white dove flies toward the woman on gold lines from a window at the upper left of the painting. Latin words painted in gold capital letters are exchanged between the people. The angel says, “AVE GRA PLENA.” The letters of the woman’s response are painted upside down and backward: “ECCE ANCILLA DNI.”
Details
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Dimensions
- painted surface: 90.2 x 34.1 cm (35 1/2 x 13 7/16 in.) support: 92.7 x 36.7 cm (36 1/2 x 14 7/16 in.) framed: 97.31 × 42.23 × 6.99 cm (38 5/16 × 16 5/8 × 2 3/4 in.)
- Department
- CNE-R
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
10 tags
Subject Matter
-
Bible Story Both · 99%
The title identifies the subject as The Annunciation, and the image shows a winged angel addressing a woman within a church interior.
-
Interiors Visual · 99%
The figures are situated inside a monumental architectural interior with arcades, columns, galleries, windows, and a timber ceiling.
-
Text Both · 98%
Latin inscriptions appear between the figures; the catalog records them as “AVE GRA PLENA” and “ECCE ANCILLA DNI.”
-
Human Figure Visual · 99%
Two prominent human figures occupy the lower half of the composition: a richly dressed angel at left and a kneeling woman at right.
-
Flora Both · 99%
A vase of white lilies is clearly visible in the foreground, and the catalog specifically identifies these flowers.
Visual Qualities
-
Emphasis on Linear Perspective Visual · 96%
The repeated arcades, columns, and window openings create pronounced architectural recession into the depth of the church.
-
Highly Detailed Visual · 99%
The image contains finely rendered faces, hair, jewelry, pearls, textiles, stained glass, carved architectural details, and inlaid floor imagery.
-
Highly Ornamented Visual · 97%
Jeweled clothing, patterned textiles, carved capitals, stained glass, decorative floor panels, and architectural ornament produce an extensively embellished surface.
Medium and Techniques
-
Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The National Gallery of Art identifies the medium as oil on canvas transferred from panel.
Time Periods
-
15th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the work to circa 1434/1436, placing it in the fifteenth century.
Source & rights
Jan van Eyck. The Annunciation. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.