Angel of Annunciation

This Angel of the Annunciation, dating to around 1416, may represent an early work by Jan van Eyck or a panel from the circle of Hubert van Eyck. The Annunciation was a central subject of Netherlandish art, typically depicted on the exterior wings of altarpieces and visible when the panels were closed. Jan van Eyck, active in Bruges in the first half of the fifteenth century and among the founders of Flemish painting, established the technical and aesthetic foundation on which all subsequent northern European painting was built. His development of the oil medium to achieve previously impossible luminosity and precision of surface gave Flemish painters the technical means to represent the visible world with a completeness no earlier painting tradition had achieved. His influence radiated from Bruges across Europe: Netherlandish painting traveled to Italy (where it profoundly influenced the Venetian tradition), to Spain, Portugal, and France, establishing a tradition of meticulous surface observation that was one of the defining contributions of northern Europe to the Western painting tradition.

The angel figure displays the meticulous attention to fabric textures and luminous color that characterized the Eyckian revolution in oil painting technique.