The Annunciation / Juan de Valdés Leal

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About this Item

Record Details

Accession Number
1962/1.99
Title
The Annunciation
Artist Nationality
Spanish
Artist Life Dates
1622-1690
Medium and Support
oil on canvas
Object Creation Date
1661
Object Creation Place
Europe (continent)
Spain (nation)
Andalusia (autonomous community)
Seville (province)
Seville (inhabited place)
Creation Place 1
Europe (continent)
Creation Place 2
Spain (nation)
Creation Place 4
Seville (province)
Creation Place 5
Seville (inhabited place)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Style/Group/Movement
Baroque
Inscription
Inscribed l.r.: Jú de baldes Leal / Faciebat A 1661
Dimensions
108.2 cm x 79.3 cm (42 5/8 in. x 31 1/4 in.)
Century
17th century
Primary Object Classification
Painting
Primary Object Type
Biblical
Secondary Object Classification
Painting
Secondary Object Type
altarpiece
Physical Description
An angel, draped with a flowing red mantle, descends on the left from a bank of clouds. He holds a scepter and twisting scroll in his left hand while he points with his right toward a white dove encircled by a halo of light that descends toward a woman dressed in long robes and a veil. She sits, holding a book open on the lectern before her, and draws back slightly with her right hand raised and her eyes downcast. Six cherubim sit above on the edge of the cloudbank, which opens to reveal a male figure barely visible in the blinding light that fills the cloud.
Subject Matter
This painting, formerly part of an altarpiece, depicts the Annunciation, an episode recounted in the gospel of Luke in which the archangel Gabriel declared to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to Christ. Gabriel swoops toward Mary on the left from a dramatically lit cloudbank in which God sits engulfed in light. Mary, interrupted at her reading, looks downward with an expression of humility and submission while the white dove of the Holy Spirit descends toward her. The white lilies in the vase on the balustrade symbolize her purity, while the glass vase serves as a metaphor for how she became pregnant without sin. The animated poses of the figures, the dramatic tonal range of the painting, the passages of vivid color and the energetic brushwork combine to invigorate the scene with an exuberant theatricality.
Rights
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Technical Details

Image Size
1834 x 2574
File Size
208 KB
Record
1962/1.99
Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1962-sl-1.99/1962_1.99.jpg

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Manifest
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1962-SL-1.99:1962_1.99.JPG

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Full citation
"The Annunciation; Juan de Valdés Leal." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1962-sl-1.99/1962_1.99.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 18, 2024.
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