About this artwork
This drawing is not what it appears to be. It shows a typical Renaissance subject—the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear the son of God—and is executed in a technique common in Germany in the early 16th century. However, recent analysis has proven that this work is a forgery. An unknown draftsperson drew the composition on a sheet of old German paper datable to around 1500 but employed a blue pigment that was invented only in 1709. Created with the intent to deceive, the drawing passed through the art market and several private collections as an authentic 16th-century work.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Unknown artist
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Title
- Annunciation
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Place
- Germany (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1700–1900
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Medium
- Pen and brown ink, heightened with brush and brown wash, white gouache, and gold paint on blue-toned tan laid paper
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Dimensions
- 20.2 × 14.4 cm (8 × 5 11/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
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Reference Number
- 1998.105
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/149028/manifest.json