The Annunciation
Wilhelm Kalteysen·1468
Historical Context
Wilhelm Kalteysen's Annunciation, painted around 1468 and now in the National Museum in Warsaw, depicts the moment of the Incarnation when the Angel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary. Kalteysen was the most important painter in fifteenth-century Wrocław, and his works document the artistic culture of Silesia, where Central European, German, and Netherlandish influences intersected in a distinctive regional school.
Technical Analysis
Kalteysen's treatment of the Annunciation shows the growing naturalism entering Central European painting through Netherlandish influence, with careful attention to the interior setting and the atmospheric quality of the scene.
