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The Annunciation
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Annunciation, c. 1480. Albert Bouts (Netherlandish, 1451/55–1549). Oil on wood; framed: 75.2 x 69 x 8.5 cm (29 5/8 x 27 3/16 x 3 3/8 in.); unframed: 50.2 x 41.5 cm (19 3/4 x 16 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of John L. Severance, 1942.635
