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Annunciation

Maker

(artist)
1527-1585

Title

Annunciation

Date of Production

(circa) 1568

Medium

black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, on laid paper, laid down on a historic mount

Dimensions

Height: 29.8 cm
Width: 21 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1956

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

The ability of angels to fly through the air enables them to operate as God's messengers, agents executing his Divine will on earth. Here the archangel Gabriel fulfils Isaiah's prophecy 'Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.' The earthly, interior space of the Virgin Mary's room is juxtaposed with the dramatic entrance of the angel from heaven, traditionally depicted as the air and sky above the human actors. The angel is announcing God's entry into the human world, a transaction between heavenly angel and earthly woman signifying the contract between God and mankind.

Provenance

Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (1723-1792), L.2364 and L.3016a; his estate sale, H. Phillips (London), 5 - 22 March 1798, lot 1946; Sotheby's (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), before March 1936; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Sir Joshua Reynolds - The Acquisition of Genius, Plymouth & Devon & England, 21/11/2009-21/02/2010

Between Renaissance and Baroque: European Art 1520-1600, Manchester City Art Gallery, 1965

Old Masters from the Witt Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 01/01/1943-01/05/1943 ...More

Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1937-38

Drawings by Cambiaso, R.E.A. Wilson, London, 1936 ...Less

Literature

Sir Joshua Reynolds: the acquisition of genius, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, 2009
no. 52
p. 126

Olszewski, Edward J., 'Drawings by Luca Cambiaso as a Late Renaissance Model of Invenzione' in 'Cleveland Studies in the History of Art', 2000 - 20-41; 5
p. 27
p. 27, fig. 7
erroneously described as belonging to the Chatsworth collection

G.L. Conran, Between Renaissance and Baroque: European Art 1520-1600, Manchester City Art Gallery, 1965
cat. no. 288 ...More

Manning, Bertina Suida and William Suida, Luca Cambiaso, la vita e le opere, MIlan, 1958
p. 180
pl. 233 ...Less

Inscriptions

Inscription: Recto: upper right corner, pen and brown ink: C.10.

Inscription: Mount (historic), Verso: lower left corner and lower centre edge, brown ink: No. 1070. Camgiagio.

Inscription: Mount (historic), Verso: lower right corner, red ink, Reynolds' mark L.3016a: Lot 1946.

Inscription: Mount (historic), Verso: upper left corner, graphite: 5N Nr. £20.

Inscription: Mount (historic), Recto: lower centre, graphite: L. Cambiagio.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, stamped in black: Sir Joshua Reynolds (L.2364).

Collector's mark: Mount (historic), Verso: lower right corner, pen and red ink: Sir Joshua Reynolds (L.3016a).

Collector's mark: Mount (historic), Recto: lower left and again at verso, lower right corner (the latter mostly abraded): Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Watermark: centre: three circles containing half lunettes, connected by crosses, the central circle containing letters: AM (similar to Briquet 3258-3267 except the letters are different).

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