The Annunciation

Colors in this work

Artist: Petrus Christus
Date: ca. 1445
Medium: Oil on wood
Dimensions: Overall 31 x 25 7/8 in. (78.7 x 65.7 cm); painted surface 30 1/2 x 25 1/4 in. (77.5 x 64.1 cm)
Department: European Paintings
Holding institution: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Palette: Raw Walnut · Brown family · #644B28 · 33%

Olive Ground · Yellow family · #947845 · 15%

Sooted Timber · Brown family · #422E14 · 10%

Pine Needle · Green family · #202816 · 10%

Sooted Timber · Brown family · #2A1D0F · 8%

Hammered Copper Brown · Brown family · #7D4C0C · 4%

Slate Night · Black family · #1F272E · 4%

Olive Ground · Yellow family · #514B1F · 3%

Etching Plate Gray · Gray family · #373129 · 3%

Lampblack · Black family · #0B0F09 · 3%

Golden Bole · Yellow family · #B19866 · 2%

Carbon Ground · Black family · #1C2423 · 1%

Sooted Timber · Brown family · #541A16 · <1%

Burnt Sienna Wall · Orange family · #7B2C02 · <1%

Ochre Kiln · Orange family · #B86B0B · <1%

Lampblack · Black family · #010104 · <1%

Graphite Block · Gray family · #5C535D · <1%

Pewter Vessel · Gray family · #8F807D · <1%

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Image provider: metropolitan-museum-of-art
License: CC0-1.0
Credit: The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931

11 tags

Bible Story Both · 99%

The museum catalog identifies the subject as the Annunciation, and the image visibly depicts Gabriel addressing the Virgin Mary in a sacred encounter.
Deities and Holy Figures Both · 99%

The catalog names the Virgin Mary and Archangel Gabriel, who visibly appear as the two principal holy figures.
Flora Both · 99%

Lilies are listed among the museum’s subjects and white lilies are visibly painted beside the architectural threshold; abundant garden vegetation is also present.
Interiors Visual · 97%

The right side of the composition shows Mary within a constructed interior framed by a monumental portal, with an interior passage and patterned tiled floor.
Nature Visual · 97%

The left side depicts a cultivated garden with trees, dense vegetation, flowering plants, a stone wall, and a path.

Northern Renaissance Both · 88%

The artist is identified as Netherlandish and the image displays the detailed devotional panel painting associated with fifteenth-century Northern Renaissance art; this is an art-historical classification rather than a style designation supplied in the museum metadata.

Highly Detailed Visual · 98%

The panel uses unusually fine, sustained detail in the wings, garments, carved architectural ornament, masonry, plants, book, and floor tiles.

Painting Both · 100%

The work is classified by the museum as a painting, and the image clearly shows a painted panel with modeled figures, architecture, and landscape.
Oil Painting Metadata · 100%

The Metropolitan Museum of Art records the medium as oil on wood.

15th Century Art Metadata · 100%

The museum dates the work to ca. 1445, within the fifteenth century.

Petrus Christus. The Annunciation. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.