Cleveland Museum of Art

The Annunciation

Albert Bouts

Date

c. 1480

Medium

oil on wood

Culture

Netherlands, Leuven, 15th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The scene of the Annunciation to Mary that she will give birth to Christ is depicted here as a contemporary scene that may have been familiar to any viewer at the end of the 1400s. Mary is portrayed as an ordinary but wealthy woman who is interrupted by the Archangel Gabriel as she reads a book of hours. This type of book was enormously popular in the late Middle Ages as a prayer and devotional book, particularly among the wealthy, literate nobility, and city aristocracy. Netherlandish artists are known for their attention to lifelike detail: notice the sliver of landscape through the window at the left of this composition.

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