A crown, a jewelled cope and wings striped like a rainbow.
Bible in art · Luke
The Annunciation
Jan van Eyck · c. 1434/1436
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Jan van Eyck painted this tall, narrow panel around 1434–1436; it was probably one wing of a larger altarpiece whose other parts are lost. It later belonged to King William II of the Netherlands and to Tsar Nicholas I, and came to Washington in the 1930s.
Van Eyck places the meeting in a great church rather than a house, and paints every surface with care: the angel’s jewelled cope and rainbow wings, Mary’s deep blue mantle, the stained glass, the tiled floor. The words of the two are written in gold — Mary’s answer upside down.
From the text
- The angel Gabriel sent to Mary (Luke 1:26–27)
- “Greetings, you who are highly favored!” (Luke 1:28)
- “I am the Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:38)
The artist’s own
- A Gothic church instead of a home in Nazareth
- Gabriel in a cope of red and gold brocade, with a crown and a sceptre
- Lilies in a vase and an open book before Mary
- Floor tiles with scenes of Samson, David and Goliath
Details
Gabriel
Rays and a dove
Golden rays come down through a high window, with a small white dove.
Mary
Hands raised, an open book before her.
Lilies
White lilies in a vase, beside a stool with a red cushion.
The floor
Tiles with labelled scenes from the Old Testament: Samson, Delilah, David and Goliath.
Jan van Eyck, Netherlandish, c. 1390–1441. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.39) · Oil on canvas transferred from panel · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)