The Annunciation

Inscriptions

Inscribed, upper center: Ho Euangelesmos [The Annunciation]; upper left: Ho Arch[angelos] Ga[b]riel [Archangel Gabriel]; upper right: M[ate]r Th[eo]u [Mother of God]

Label

Against an architectural setting, the Archangel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she is pregnant with Christ. A ray of light and dove descend from the sky, representing the Holy Spirit. The stiffness of the figures and flattened style recall traditions of Byzantine painting. The island of Crete was a major site for the production of icons, which were distributed locally and throughout continental Europe from the 15th well into the 17th century. Like Italian painters, Greek artists prepared their panels with linen first, which is now visible in some abrasions to this work. The artist chose various dark yellows, browns, and reds, which were all readily available pigments derived from local iron-rich clays called ochres. These pigments are among the oldest in continuous use in the world, and they are very stable.

From the 2025 exhibition Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Making Colors in Europe, 1400–1800, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art

Course History

HIST 43.02, European Intellectual and Cultural History 1400-1800, Darrin McMahon, Fall 2019

HIST 43.02, European Intellectual History 1400-1800, Darrin McMahon, Fall 2022

History 10.02, Archival Research, M. Cecillia Gaposchkin, Summer 2023

History 10.02, Archival Research and the Production of History, Leslie Butler, Summer 2024

Exhibition History

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Making Colors in Europe, 1400–1800, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 6 - Fall 2026.

Exhibition honoring opening of the Christian A. Johnson Music and Arts Center, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, October 11-November 3, 1968.

Permanent Collection, Carpenter Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 18, 1977-July 9, 1978.

Permanent Exhibition of Selected European Paintings from the College Collection, European Room, Carpenter Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 1975.

Selections from the Permanent Collection, Beaumont-May Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 20-December 1, 1972.

Provenance

Purchased in Greece by Professor George Dana Lord (1863-1945); sold to present collection, 1894.

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Subjects