The Annunciation
Juan de Flandes·c. 1508/1519
Historical Context
Juan de Flandes's Annunciation from around 1508-19 was painted for a Spanish altarpiece commission, representing one of his post-Isabella works when he had established himself in Salamanca and Palencia as a leading painter for Spanish ecclesiastical and aristocratic patrons. The Annunciation was a required element of any comprehensive altarpiece program depicting the life of Christ and the Virgin, and Juan de Flandes's version combined the Flemish tradition's domestic intimacy with the more formal Spanish devotional manner. His work for Spanish patrons showed his ability to adapt the Flemish approach he had brought from the North to the requirements of Spanish religious culture.
Technical Analysis
Juan de Flandes's oil on panel demonstrates his meticulous Flemish technique with luminous color, precise spatial construction, and the careful rendering of textures and light that characterize his mature Spanish period.
Provenance
Altarpiece of the "capilla mayor (main chapel)", church of San Lázaro, Palencia, commissioned c. 1508, until c. 1945.[1] Arcadio Torres Martín, Palencia, 1950-1951.[2] Acquired c. 1952 by (Frederick Mont, New York);[3] purchased 11 February 1953 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] The commission was made by Don Sancho de Castilla. See Jan V.L. Brans, "Juan de Flandes, pintor de la Reina y de Castilla," _Clavileño_ 4, no. 21 (1953): 32 for the state of San Lázaro and the cessation of services there shortly after September 1945. [2] In 1950 and 1951, Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann saw six panels from the San Lázaro altarpiece--_The Annunciation_ and _The Nativity_ and the four panels now in the Prado--in the house of Sr. Torres Martín in Palencia; this information was given in conversations with Martha Wolff of 3 February 1984 and 24 July 1984. [3] In 1952 all four panels now in the Gallery (1961.9.22-.25) were with Frederick Mont in New York; see letter of 28 October 1952 from Chandler R. Post to Mont in NGA curatorial files. Mont refers to having bought the pictures in Spain in a letter dated 16 April 1953 to Wilhelm Valentiner (Valentiner Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: microfilm reel no. 2143; copies in NGA curatorial files). [4] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2063.
