The Virgin of the Annunciation

* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

The Virgin of the Annunciation

circa 1465
Sculpture
Lead-glazed earthenware
66 × 22 × 9 in. (167.64 × 55.88 × 22.86 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation (47.8.1a)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Although glazed terra-cotta had long been used as earthenware, Luca della Robbia popularized its use for sculpture....
Although glazed terra-cotta had long been used as earthenware, Luca della Robbia popularized its use for sculpture. The medium gained great popularity in fifteenth-century Florence and became a specialty of the della Robbia family studio, which was directed by Andrea after Luca, his uncle, died. Altarpieces made of glazed terra-cotta were more colorful, less expensive, and easier to transport than similar sculptures in marble. This Annunciation group has the solemnity and grace typical of the last years of the early Renaissance in Florence (1450—60s). Rediscovered in the small Florentine church of San Nicolo, the figures were probably made for a private chapel in the Bardi Palace, where they would have been placed at some distance from each other, perhaps flanking an altarpiece, portal, or window. The entire group consists of Mary, the archangel Gabriel, and possibly the dove of the Holy Spirit. Mary's downcast eyes and hand across her breast indicate she is accepting the Incarnation with pious humility. She is represented with the refined features and graceful rhythms that late fifteenth-century artists used to suggest spiritual worthiness. The della Robbia studio primarily produced pictorial reliefs. Figures of the size of those in The Annunciation , independent of any background, are very rare.
More...

Bibliography

  • Feinblatt, Ebria. The Gothic Room. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1947.
  • Valentiner, W.R. Gothic and Renaissance Sculptures: in the Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1951.
  • Feinblatt, Ebria. The Gothic Room. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1947.
  • Valentiner, W.R. Gothic and Renaissance Sculptures: in the Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1951.
  • Schaefer, Scott, and Peter Fusco. European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: an Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.
  • Price, Lorna.  Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Los Angeles:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
  • De Nicola, Giacomo. "A Recently Discovered Madonna by Luca della Robbia." Burlington Magazine 35, no.197 (1919): 48-55.
More...