The Annunciation and the Visitation

Melchior Broederlam's Annunciation and Visitation, painted around 1393 for the Chartreuse de Champmol near Dijon, is one of the masterpieces of International Gothic painting in Northern Europe. Commissioned by Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, these panels formed the exterior wings of a carved altarpiece by Jacques de Baerze. Broederlam, court painter to the Burgundian dukes, synthesized Parisian manuscript illumination, Italian spatial experiments, and Flemish naturalism into a style of unprecedented richness.

Painted in tempera and possibly oil glazes on panel, Broederlam achieves remarkable atmospheric effects through subtle tonal gradations in the landscape backgrounds. The architectural settings display experimental perspective, while the figures combine French Gothic elegance with a new attention to volumetric form and textile textures.