The Angel announcing the Conception of the Virgin to Joachim, and the Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate
Benedetto Diana (c.1460 - 1525)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1510 - 1525
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
375 x 292 mm (14 3/4 x 11 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Venice
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1246467
Caption
This work was probably once part of a set of pictures telling the story of the life of the Virgin Mary. Known collectively as a predella, these ran along the bottom of a much larger painting as part of the conventional adornment of a church altar. This panel relates two episodes of the narrative in a single scene. On top of a hill, on the left-hand side of the picture, an angel is seen instructing Joachim to meet his barren wife Anne at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. In the foreground, husband and wife are seen conversing in the appointed place, where a joyful embrace resulted the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary.
Summary
Oil painting on panel (fragment of a predella), The Angel announcing the Conception of the Virgin to Joachim, and the Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate by Benedetto Diana (Venice c.1460 – Venice 1525), circa 1510-25. At the extreme right of the composition Joachim meets Anna before a classical archway; her figure is partly cut off by the edge of the picture. In the landscape at the left a shepherd with his flock and Joachim reappearing with the angel.
Provenance
J. Kerr-Lawson (1865 - 1948); acquired by Tancred Borenius (1885 - 1948) for Mrs Greville at an unspecified date (having been bought at Sotheby's); The bequest of Margaret (Anderson) McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald - later Dame Margaret - Henry Fulke Greville, DBE (1863-1942) from probate records linked with the donation of the property to the National Trust in 1943. This item found on the record for Polesden Lacey pictures, drawings etc., stored in the safe, page 175.
Credit line
Polesden Lacey, The McEwan Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
customs seal of Venice and another, unidentified, seal (on back of panel)
Makers and roles
Benedetto Diana (c.1460 - 1525), artist
References
Berenson 1957 Bernard Berenson, Venetian Pictures, 1957, I, p. 74, pl. 376 Shapley, 1968: Fern Rusk Shapley, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Paintings XV-XVI Century, London 1968, p. 56