''Annunciation'' (or ''The Virgin Mary'') is a

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not pain ...

by the German artist

Stefan Lochner Stefan Lochner (the ''Dombild Master'' or ''Master Stefan''; c. 1410 – late 1451) was a German painter working in the late International Gothic period. His paintings combine that era's tendency toward long flowing lines and brilliant colours ...

, from ''c.'' 1446-1449. The panels were probably conceived as an outer wing for a lost altarpiece. It shows the virgin, rather conventionally receiving the voice of the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

, who hovers above her in the form of a dove. A vase behind her holds a

lily ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

. Her white clothes and the flower represent her virginity.Wellesz, 7 It seems influenced by similar panels found in

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( ; ; – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Nort ...

's ''

Ghent Altarpiece The ''Ghent Altarpiece'', also called the ''Adoration of the Mystic Lamb'' (), is a very large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420s and completed by 1432, and it ...

''.

References

Notes

Sources

* Chapuis, Julien. ''Stefan Lochner: Image Making in Fifteenth-Century Cologne''. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004. * Wellesz, Emmy; Rothenstein, John (ed). ''Stephan Lochner''. London: Fratelli Fabbri, 1963 {{DEFAULTSORT:Annunciation 1440s paintings Paintings by Stefan Lochner Collection of the Wallraf–Richartz Museum

Lochner ''Lochner v. New York'', 198 U.S. 45 (1905), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court holding that a New York State statute that prescribed maximum working hours for bakers violated the bakers' right to freedom of contract under the ...

Doves in art Books in art