Annunciation by Jan Van Eyck, 1434
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This Annunciation is said by the dealer Nieuwenhuys to have been found in a church at Dijon, to which it had been presented by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. Taken to Paris in 181g, it was sold by Nieuwenhuys to King William II of Holland. On the dispersal of that monarch's collection in 1850, it was purchased for the Hermitage for 12,949 francs.
A copy of Jan Van Eyck's Annunciation is said by Crowe and by Kaemmerer to have been in the possession of a M. van Hal at Antwerp, and to have been sold there, and afterwards at Paris, in the middle of last century.
In the nave or transept of a lofty three-aisled building the Blessed Virgin is represented standing on the left, behind a prayer-desk, on which an illuminated book lies open. Opposite her the angel, who, bearing a sceptre of crystal and gold, has entered from the side aisle, raises his right hand, and greets her with the salutation: AVE GRA PLENA, to whom she, her hands raised apart and with her head slightly inclined, signifies her humble submission to the Divine will. by the words: ECCE ANCILLA DNI - both inscriptions, the latter being inverted, in detached gold capitals float in the air.
Amid seven rays of light, projected from heaven through the clerestory, the Holy Dove flies down to Mary. She is clad in a blue dress trimmed with ermine, open at the neck, girt with a broad sash immediately below the breast, and over this an ample blue mantle with a narrow border of gold. Her hair, confined by a jewelled band, is drawn back off the forehead and falls over her shoulders, leaving the left ear exposed.
Gabriel, who has beautiful peacock-wings, wears, over a tunic of green-and-gold velvet brocade, a cape of dark red and gold, bordered with pearls and precious stones, and kept in place by a circular morse. A jewelled coronet with a cross flory rising from the front confines his hair, which falls in curly locks on his shoulders.
The draperies of both the angel and the Virgin spread around in many folds on the pavement, which is composed of oblong storied panels, separated from each other bybands of undulating foliage of varied design, with the signs of the zodiac in elliptical medallions at the intersections. Those seen are Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Scorpio, and Sagittarius; while the storied panels show Samson slaying the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass; Delilah cutting off his hair, Samson pulling down the pillars of the temple of Dagon, and David cutting off Goliath's head; Saul, surrounded by his warriors, looking on from his tent.
These are accompanied by explanatory inscriptions. In the immediate foreground, on the left, is a wooden stool, with a tasselled red damask silk cushion on it, and beyond it a glass vase with lilies.
The architecture in Jan Van Eyck's Annunciation is remarkable, but cannot be considered as the representation of any one building, though all the details appear to be correctly drawn. The late Romanesque arcade, with its very stilted arches, seems to have been copied from the arches of an apse, but straightened out ; the capitals of the columns are sculptured with interlaced foliage, those of the piers at the angles with figures. The square-headed triforium, with its row of columns, may possibly have been suggested by the Baptistery at Parma, but more probably by the cathedral of Tournay. The spandrils between the arches at the farther end of the building are adorned with two half-length figures in circular medallions: Isaac on the right and Jacob on the left.
In the window above is a full length figure of Our Lord in a red robe and yellowish blue mantle, holding a sceptre and an open book. His feet rest on a globe, on Which in capital letters is: ASIA. Above Him are two seraphim standing on wheels. On each side is a mural painting that on the right representing the daughter of Pharaoh and a maiden carrying the infant Moses in a cradle; that on the left, Moses bending before the Lord and receiving the tables of the law, on which is inscribed the second commandment: Non assumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum. "Do not take the name of the Lord in vain." The compartments of the wooden ceiling are also apparently represented as decorated with paintings.
Other paintings/pictures tagged "Annunciation"
"Annunciation (Louvre)" (1478-1482) The Louvre, Paris |
"Annunciation (Uffizi)" (1472-1475) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence |
"The Annunciation" (1502-1503) Pinacoteca, Vatican |
"The Annunciation detail 2" (1430-1432) Museo del Prado, Madrid |
Pictures from Flickr tagged Van Eyck,Annunciation
Popular Works by Jan Van Eyck
The Ghent Altarpiece: Cumaean Sibyl (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: God Almighty (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: Angel of the Annunciation (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: The Just Judges (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: Adam (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: Eve (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: Virgin Mary (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: Singing Angels (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: The Adoration of the Lamb (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: The Holy Hermits (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: Erythraean Sibyl (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: The Holy Pilgrims (1432) • The Ghent Altarpiece: The Soldiers of Christ (1432)
Jan Van Eyck Religious Paintings
The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin (1435) • Madonna and Child Enthroned (1434) • Madonna in the Church (1425) • Last Judgment (1420-25) • Annunciation (c. 1436)
Jan Van Eyck Portraits
The Portrait of Jan de Leeuw (1436) • Portrait of a Man with Carnation (c. 1435) • The Man in a Red Turban (1433) • Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini (c. 1435) • Portrait of a Goldsmith (Man with Ring) (c. 1430) • Portrait of Cardinal Niccolo Albergati (c. 1435) • Portrait of Margareta van Eyck (1439)
Visitors Comments on Annunciation by Van Eyck
Probably the latter were only small commissions, that didn't deserve a large investment in attention and time.