The Annunciation
follower of Lorenzo di Credi (Florence c.1456 – Florence 1536)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1460 - 1540
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
240 x 585 mm
Order this imageCollection
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire
NT 290214
Caption
This picture depicts the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she shall conceive and bear a son called Jesus. The Incarnation of Christ is supposed to have taken place at this moment. The Virgin is shown kneeling before a lectern. A book is a typical attribute in this scene, as the Virgin is said to have read from the book of Isaiah, who prophesises the birth of Christ. This picture is at present somewhat disfigured by overpaint, but it is just possible that the old attribution (inscribed on the back of the panel) is correct, and that this is the part of the predella of the altarpiece in Pistoia Cathedral, by Andrea del’Verrochio and Lorenzo di Credi. The altarpiece, of around 1480, depicts The Virgin Mary in Majesty between Saint John the Baptist and St. Donato, and is situated in a chapel to the left of the chancel.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, The Annunciation by a follower of Lorenzo di Credi (Florence c.1456 – Florence 1536). A horizontal picture. The Virgin is dressed in blue and kneels behind some pillars in an interior. The angel in pink and white kneels on the left, hand raised in blessing. This picture is at present somewhat disfigured by overpaint, but it is just possible that the old attribution (inscribed on the back of the panel) is correct, and that this, and not the Annunciation disputed between Leonardo and Credi in the Louvre, is the central panel from the predella of the Verrocchio and Lorenzo di Credi altarpiece in Pistoia Cathedral in a chapel, left of the chancel, The Virgin Mary in Majesty between St John the Baptist and St Donato (c.1480).
Provenance
According to Isabel Jane Crewe (1830-1909): bequeathed by John Gardner Wilkinson (1797-1875), explorer and Egyptologist to Sir John Harpur Crewe 9th Bt (1824-1886); and thence by descent until Calke Abbey was given to the National Trust by Henry Harpur Crewe (1921-1991) and the contents, including this painting, were acquired with the aid of a grant from the National Heritage Fund, thanks to a special allocation of money from the Government, in 1984.
Credit line
Calke Abbey, The Harpur Crewe Collection (acquired with the help of the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund)
Makers and roles
follower of Lorenzo di Credi (Florence c.1456 – Florence 1536), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Lorenzo di Credi (Florence c.1456 – Florence 1536), artist previously catalogued as imitator of Lorenzo di Credi (Florence c.1456 – Florence 1536), artist