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The Archangel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ

Lucas van Leyden Netherlandish
1520s
Not on view
Lucas van Leyden, considered by many to be the first major Dutch artist, built his international fame almost exclusively upon his work as a printmaker. This drawing, one of fewer than thirty accepted as by him, is the latest addition to Lucas’s small drawn oeuvre. The sheet complements one of comparable size and technique in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, which depicts the Virgin looking up in surprise at hearing the archangel’s message, and in which Lucas similarly married the figure’s monumentality with a rich and subtle pattern of lines, hatchings, and cross-hatchings.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Archangel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ
  • Artist: Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, Leiden ca. 1494–1533 Leiden)
  • Date: 1520s
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink; squared in black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 8 5/16 x 6 1/2 in. (21.1 x 16.5 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Promised Gift of Leon D. and Debra R. Black, and Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift and 2007 Benefit Fund, 2008
  • Object Number: 2008.253
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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