Interrupted in her spiritual meditations, the Virgin Mary modestly recoils from the archangel Gabriel (now lost), whose message foretells the birth of the Christ Child. The statuette's sensitively carved features and slight smile, elongated proportions, and graceful draperies show stylistic analogies to courtly art in Paris.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Virgin of the Annunciation
Date:ca. 1300–1310
Geography:Made in Paris, France
Culture:French
Medium:Limestone, traces of paint
Dimensions:16 11/16 × 11 5/8 × 7 3/8 in., 34 lb. (42.4 × 29.6 × 18.8 cm, 15.4 kg)
Classification:Sculpture-Stone
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.739
Georges Hoentschel (French), Paris (sold 1911); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1911–until 1917)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18, 1970–March 29, 1970.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "L'art en France au temps de Philippe le Bel," March 17–June 30, 1998.
"The Pierpont Morgan Gift." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13, no. 1 (January 1918). ill. p. 7.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 129.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 129.
Taylor, Francis Henry. "The Archaic Smile: A Commentary on the Arts in Times of Crisis." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 10, no. 8 (April 1952). ill. p. 229.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1952. no. 42, pp. 52, 221.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 47.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 79, pp. 172–73, 259.
Wixom, William D. "An Enthroned Madonna with the Writing Christ Child." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 9 (December 1970). pp. 289, 290, fig. 4.
Boccador, Jacqueline. Statuaire médiévale de collection. Vol. 2. Milan: Les Clefs du Temps, 1972. p. 35, fig. 23.
Gnudi ,Cesare. "I rilievi esterni del coro di Notre Dame e la Vergine Annunciata del Metropolitan Museum." In Études d'art français offertes à Charles Sterling. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1975. pp. 41–46, pl. 18–22.
Schwarz, Michael Viktor. Höfische Skulptur im 14. Jahrhundert: Entwicklungsphasen und Vermittlungswege im Vorfeld des Weichen Stils. Manuskripte zur Kunstwissenschaft in der Wernerschen Verlagsgesellschaft, Vol. 6. Worms: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1986. p. 217.
Stubblebine, James H. "French Gothic Elements in Simone Martini's Maestà." Gesta 29, no. 1 (1990). p. 139, fig. 6.
Schmidt, Gerhard. Gotische Bildwerke und ihre Meister. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 1992. p. 78, n. 3.
Avril, François, ed. L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils, 1285-1328. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998. no. 71, p. 125–27.
Wixom, William D. "Medieval Sculpture at the Metropolitan: 800 to 1400." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 62, no. 4 (2005). p. 35.
Fajt, Jiri, and Barbara Drake Boehm, ed. Karl IV., Kaiser von Gottes Gnaden: Kunst und Repräsentation des Hauses Luxemburg 1310-1437. Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2006. p. 109.
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