The Annunciation
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
unframed: 50.2 × 41.5 cm · framed: 75.2 × 69 × 8.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of John L. Severance
Accession Number
1942.635
Tags
male
About this artwork
The scene of the Annunciation to Mary that she will give birth to Christ is depicted here as a contemporary scene that may have been familiar to any viewer at the end of the 1400s. Mary is portrayed as an ordinary but wealthy woman who is interrupted by the Archangel Gabriel as she reads a book of hours. This type of book was enormously popular in the late Middle Ages as a prayer and devotional book, particularly among the wealthy, literate nobility, and city aristocracy.