Annunciation

The archangel Gabriel’s greeting to the Virgin Mary and her response is often represented on the exterior of winged altarpieces, as it signals Christ’s conception. Indeed, these two panels were originally the exterior wings of an altarpiece featuring, on the interior, a Madonna and Child in the centre (now in Brussels) and Sts. Catherine and Barbara on the two side wings (Art Institute of Chicago). While the interior was painted in naturalistic colours to create an illusion of reality, the painter has followed a long tradition of painting the exterior in “grisaille” (shades of gray) to resemble carved stone statues in a niche.

Jean Bellegambe’s shop was in Douai, which was then near the border of the Netherlands and France. While his patrons came mainly from northern France, his style was deeply influenced by late medieval styles of Antwerp.