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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=EF021017698D8A84915BC0D70F969D98C0F046F806B570E7C83120DFD276F544&s=24247294&se=544746340&v=2&f=1942.635_o2.jpg

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Nov 12, 2009

The Annunciation

c. 1480

Albert Bouts

(Netherlandish, 1451–55–1549)

Netherlands, Leuvuen, 15th century

Oil on wood

Framed: 75.2 x 69 x 8.5 cm (29 5/8 x 27 3/16 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 50.2 x 41.5 cm (19 3/4 x 16 5/16 in.)

Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.635

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Netherlandish artists are known for their attention to lifelike detail: notice the sliver of landscape through the window at the left of this composition.

Description

Mary, depicted here as a seemingly ordinary, albeit affluent, woman, is interrupted by the archangel Gabriel while reading from a small book of hours in her home. The decor and furnishings, as well as the book, would have been familiar to any contemporary viewer. A model for women of the day, the Virgin Mary’s popularity was entwined with the popularity of books of hours, and the books contained numerous prayers to her. Mary was seen as the intercessor between humanity and God, hearing prayers and taking mercy on penitent individuals.

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Provenance

Graf Sierstorpff, Driburg, Germany

April 19, 1887

[Sale: Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, April 19, 1887, Berlin Germany, no. 106]

before 1912

Eugen Schweitzer (1888–1981), Berlin, Germany

-1915

(M. Knoedler & Company, New York, NY)

1915-1942

John L. Severance (1863-1936), Cleveland, OH

1942-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus. Gemälde-Galerie vom Schlosse Driburg. 1887. no. 106

Hulin de Loo, Georges. Catalogue critique: exposition de tableaux flamands des XIVe, XVe et XVIe siècles : Bruges 1902. Gand: Siffer, 1902.

"Cleveland Gets a Corot," American Art News, Vol. 13, No. 33. (June 12, 1915). p. 1 www.jstor.org

Alte Pinakothek (Munich, Germany). Katalog der älteren Pinakothek zu München. München: Carl Gerber, 1925. p. 17

Baldass, Ludwig. Die altniederländische Malerei. Wien: A. Schroll, 1925. Vol. III, no. 44a. p. 115. pl. LI

Alte Pinakothek (Munich, Germany). Illustrated catalogue, Old Pinakothek, Munich. Munich: Alte Pinakothek, 1928. p. 16

Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition : June Twenty-Sixth to October Fourth 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: [Cleveland Museum of Art], 1936. no. 185, p. 78, pl. XLIII

Art News Vol. 34 pt. 2 (June 13, 1936) p. 11

Robb, David M. "The Iconography of the Annunciation in the 14th and 15th Centuries," Art Bulletin Vol. XVIII (1936). p. 513n, note 91

Buttrick, George A. Rev. "The Life of Christ," Life Magazine (December 28, 1936). p. 45

Art Digest, (July 1, 1936). p. 7

Fortune Magazine (Dec. 1936). p. 114

Schöne, Wolfgang. Dieric Bouts und seine Schule. Mit 90 Bildtafeln. Berlin: Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1938. no. 84a, pp. 116, 148-9, 191, pl. 54b

New York World's Fair, Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner, and Alfred M. Frankfurter. Masterpieces of Art: Exhibition at the New York World's Fair, 1939; Official Souvenir Guide and Picture Book. 1939. no. 23

New York World's Fair, George Henry McCall, and Wilhelm Reinhold Valentiner. Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800. [New York]: [Printed by Publishers Printing Company], 1939. pp. 12-13

Cleveland Museum of Art, and William Mathewson Milliken. Masterpieces of Art from the New York and San Francisco World's Fairs; The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 7 Through March 7, 1940. 1940. no. 1, p. 7, pl. I (frontispiece)

Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942. Reproduced: p. [11], Plate I, cat. no. 1; Mention: p. 21, cat. no. 1 archive.org

Art News (Nov. 15, 1942) p. 6

"Cleveland Installs Last Gifts of Generous John L. Severance," Art Digest, (December 1, 1942). p. 8

Francis, Henry S. "Department of Paintings." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 29, no. 9 (1942). p. 132 www.jstor.org

"The Cleveland Museum's Severance Collection," Antiques Vol. 42 (December 1942). p. 315

Comstock, Helen. "The John L. Severance Collection at Cleveland." Connoisseur Vol. III (March 1943). p. 61

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 438 archive.org

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and Johann Eckart von Borries. Meisterwerke aus baden-württembergischem Privatbesitz: [Ausstellung] 9. Okt. 1958-10. Jan. 1959. [Stuttgart]: [publisher not identified], 1958. p. 17, cat. no. 19, pl. 40

Bruges (Belgium), Groeningemuseum, and Detroit Institute of Arts. Le Siècle des primitifs flamands: catalogue. Bruges: Edité par la Ville de Bruges et imprimé par les Presses Saint-Augustin, 1960. no. 32, pp. 94-5

Detroit Institute of Arts. Flanders in the Fifteenth Century: Art and Civilization. Catalogue of the Exhibition Masterpieces of Flemish Art: Van Eyck to Bosch. 1960. no. 28, pp. 135-7

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 69 archive.org

Friedländer, Max J. Dieric Bouts and Joos Van Gent. Leyden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1968. p. 39, 65, pl. 60, fig. 44a

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 69 archive.org

Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings Before 1500. Cleveland: The Museum, 1974. . cat. no. 50

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 78 archive.org

Alte Pinakothek (Munich, Germany). Alte Pinakothek München: Erläuterungen zu den ausgestellten Gemälden. München: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, 1983. p. 88

Bauman, Guy, and Walter A. Liedtke. Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp: Fonds Mercator, 1992. p. 318, fig. 119

Šebková-Thaller, Zuzana. Sünde und Versöhnung in Jan van Eycks Hochzeitsbild. Markt Berolzheim: Hernoul-le-Fin Verlag, 1992. p. 182, pl. 90, no. 8

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. p. 22

Sims, Lowery Stokes. The persistence of geometry: form, content, and culture in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. pp. 45 & 116, no. 22

Fliegel, Stephen N., and Stephen N. Fliegel. A Higher Contemplation: Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2012. p. 52, fig 42

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 277; Reproduced: P. 256-257

Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced: p. 22 archive.org

Exhibition history

Old and Modern Masters, Knoedler & Co., Gage Gallery, Cleveland, OH (1915).

Art Through the Ages, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 30 1931-November 29 1931).

The 20th Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibition of the Great Lakes Exposition, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 26 193-October 12 1936).

Masterpieces of Art, New York World's Fair, New York, NY (April 30, 1939-October 27, 1940).

Masterpieces of Art from the New York and San Francisco World's Fairs, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 7-March 7, 1940).

Le Siècle des Primitifs Flamands (Flanders in the Fifteenth Century): Exposition Organisée par l'Administration Communale de Bruges; Musée Communal des Beaux-Arts, Musée Groeninge, (26 June-11 September 1960); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan (October-December 1960).

Exhibition of the John L. Severance Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 12, 1942-March 14, 1943).

Exhibition of the Month: Texture in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 6-December 8, 1947).

Classic to Baroque: A Style Change in the Arts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30-November 13, 1949).

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

Masterpieces of Flemish Art: Van Eyck to Bosch. Groeningemuseum, Bruges, Bruges, Belgium (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 26-September 11, 1960); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (co-organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1960).

Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).

The Medieval Top Seller: The Book of Hours (Gallery 115 rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26, 2022-July 30, 2023).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Annunciation|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.635|author=Albert Bouts|year=c. 1480|access-date=08 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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The Annunciation

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Albert Bouts

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