L'Annonciation, sainte Anne trinitaire, saint Antoine abbé

This complex altarpiece panel in the Louvre, painted around 1487, combines three distinct devotional subjects: the Annunciation, Saint Anne as the Trinitarian figure of the extended Holy Family, and Saint Anthony Abbot. Bartholomäus Zeitblom was a major painter of Swabian Upper Germany, based in Ulm, and his altarpiece programmes reflect the sophisticated theological ambitions of late fifteenth-century South German patronage. The combination of subjects in one panel may reflect a specific chapel dedication or the personal devotions of the commissioning patron.

The multi-subject format requires Zeitblom to divide pictorial space among three distinct devotional scenes, a compositional challenge he resolves through architectural division or careful figure placement.