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The Annunciation

ca. 1485–92
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 952
One of the most celebrated paintings in the Robert Lehman Collection, this depiction of the Annunciation unfolds in a classicizing architectural interior rendered with one-point perspective to create the illusion of depth, a technique achieved in early fifteenth-century Florence. The incised lines visible on the panel's surface are evidence of Botticelli’s working method to create the complex composition. A row of pillars divides the space occupied by the Angel Gabriel from the intimate bed chamber of the Virgin, who kneels in humility as she receives his divine message. The panel was almost certainly commissioned as a private devotional image, not as part of a larger work. While the identity of the patron is not known, the painting was in the famed Barberini collection in Rome in the seventeenth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Annunciation
  • Artist: Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) (Italian, Florence 1444/45–1510 Florence)
  • Date: ca. 1485–92
  • Medium: Tempera and gold on wood
  • Dimensions: 7 1/2 x 12 3/8 in. (19.1 x 31.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.74
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

Audio

Cover Image for 4795. The Annunciation

4795. The Annunciation

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More Artwork

More Artwork
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The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brown wash, traces of black chalk.
The Last Communion of Saint Jerome
Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)
ca. 1491–1503(?)
Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius, Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) Italian, Tempera on wood
Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius
Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)
ca. 1500
The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
The Last Communion of Saint Jerome
Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)
early 1490s
The Madonna of Humility, the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Pietà, Bartolomeo Vivarini Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
The Madonna of Humility, the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Pietà
Bartolomeo Vivarini
ca. 1465
Saint Anthony the Abbot in the Wilderness, Osservanza Master Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
Saint Anthony the Abbot in the Wilderness
Osservanza Master
ca. 1435

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