Jean Hey (Master of Moulins; Netherlandish, c. 1480-c.1504)
About this artwork
This scene—the archangel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus, the son of God—may appear to be complete, but it is actually a fragment of a larger altarpiece. X-radiography and infrared reflectography indicate that a figure originally stood along the left edge. At some point before 1906, this figure was scraped out and painted over.
The painting served as the right wing of an altarpiece; scholars have identified the left wing as a painting depicting the meeting of Mary’s parents (about 1491–94; National Gallery, London). Not only do both panels have figures painted with the precious pigment ultramarine along one of their edges, but they are united in theme: The London panel represents the moment in which Mary is conceived, while the Chicago panel illustrates the moment of Jesus’s conception.
Jean Hey, court painter to Pierre II, Duke of Bourbon, and his wife, Anne of France, may have made this altarpiece to celebrate the birth of their only child. The sumptuous palette and crisp definition of form echo Franco-Flemish manuscript painting, while the barrel vault and marble column—reflecting a blossoming interest in antiquity in the late 1400s—imbue this scene with a timeless quality.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
72.5 × 50.1 cm (28 1/2 × 19 11/16 in.); Framed: 86.3 × 65.4 cm (34 × 25 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Reference Number
1933.1062
IIIF Manifest
The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.
Roger E. Fry, “The Maître de Moulins,” Burlington Magazine 9 (1906), pp. 330–31 (ill.).
François Monod, “L’Exposition nationale de maîtres anciens à Londres,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 4th ser., 3 (1910), pp. 243–45 (ill.).
Marcel Nicolle, “Exposition nationale de maîtres anciens à Londres,”
La Revue de l’art ancien et moderne 27 (1910), p. 54 (ill.).
JeanGuiffrey and Pierre Marcel, La Peinture française: Les Primitifs,
vol. 1, Paris, 1913, pp. 18–19, pls. 53–54.
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la renaissance (1280–1580),vol. 4, Paris, 1918, p. 54 (ill.)
The Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings, and Drawings, vol. 2, August 1920, p. 62.
Martin Conway, The Van Eycks and Their Followers, London, 1921, p. 187.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, and Paintings, May 1922, p. 72.
Maurice W. Brockwell, review of Conway 1921, in Connoisseur 62 (1922), p. 206.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection, 1925, p. 160, no. 2054.
Max J. Friedländer, “A Painting by the Maître de Moulins in the National
Gallery,” Burlington Magazine 47 (1925), pp. 187–88, pl. B.
Rose Mary Fischkin, “Martin A. Ryerson Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, XIII to XVII Century, Loaned to The Art Institute of Chicago,” unpub. MS, 1926, Ryerson Library, The Art Institute of Chicago, pp. 134–35.
Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., “An Exhibition of French Primitives,” Arts 12 (1927), p. 248 (ill. opp. p. 241).
Walter Heil, “Kunstwerke der französischen Gotik: Leiausstellung
im Museum zu Detroit,” Pantheon 3 (1929), p. 76.
Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia, The French Primitives and Their
Forms, Merion, Pa., 1931, pp. 431–32, 437 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection, 1932, p. 181, no. 670.14.
F[riedrich] Winkler, “Der Meister von Moulins und Hugo van der Goes,” Pantheon 10 (1932), p. 241.
“The Century of Progress Exhibition of the Fine Arts,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 27 (1933), p. 62 (ill.).
Daniel Catton Rich, “The Paintings of Martin A. Ryerson,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 27 (1933), pp. 8 (ill.), 12.
F[riedrich] Winkler, “Perréal,Jean,” in Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart,, vol. 26, 1933, p. 434.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections, 1935, pp. 22–23 (ill.).
Charles Sterling, La Peinture française: Les Primitifs, Paris, 1938, fig. 159.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections, 1941, pp. 28–29 (ill.).
Charles Sterling [Charles Jacques, pseud.], La Peinture française: Les Peintres du
moyen âge, Paris, 1941, pp. 22–23, no. 30, pl. 72.
Lucien Rudrauf,L’Annonciation: Étude d’un thème plastique et de ses variations
en peinture et en sculpture, Paris, 1943, p. 39 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, 1945, pp. 30–31 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Picture Book: Masterpieces of Painting, XV and XVI Centuries in the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, 1946, pp. 14–16 (ill.).
Martin Davies, French School, National Gallery Catalogues, London, 1946, pp. 67–68; 2nd ed., 1957, pp. 153–54.
Jacques Dupont, in “Séance du 19 Mars,”Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France (1945–47), p. 226.
The Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, 1948, pp. 27–28 (ill.).
Maurice H. Goldblatt, “The ‘Master of Moulins’ Identified—Part II,” Connoisseur 122 (1948), pp. 4–5, no. 15 (ill.).
Grete Ring, A Century of French Painting, 1400–1500, London, 1949, p. 238, no. 297, pl. 165.
L[ouis] Réau, “Les Énigmes du Maître de Moulins,” in “Séance du 11 Juin 1949,”
Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’art français (1949 [1950]),
p. 59.
“Meister von Moulins,” in Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig, vol. 37, 1950, p. 236.
Jacques Dupont, “L’Énigme des primitifs, le Maître de Moulins,” Bulletin de la Société des amis du Musée de Dijon (1949–51), p. 22.
Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais, S.J., Le Maître de Moulins, Lyon, 1951, pp. 4 (ill.), 5, 14.
The Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, 1956, pp. 27–28 (ill.).
Jacques Feydy,“Le Portrait du Cardinal de Bourbon et le problème du ‘Maître de
Moulins,’” L’Information d’histoire de l’art 2 (1957), p. 168.
Nicole Reynaud, “Le Problème du Maître de Moulins: État de la question,”
L’Information d’histoire de l’art 2 (1957), p. 176.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection, 1961, pp. 140 (ill.), 301–02.
Madeleine Huillet d’Istria, Le Maître de Moulins, Paris, 1961, pp. 16–18, 31–35, 89, 100, 107, figs. 39, 41, pl. 4.
Jacqueline Marette, La Connaissance des primitives par l’étude du bois, du XIIe au XVIe siècle, Paris, 1961, p. 184, no. 165.
Albert Châtelet, “A Plea for the Master of Moulins,” Burlington Magazine 104 (1962), pp. 517–21, fig. 5.
Albert Châtelet and Jacques 9uillier, French Painting, from Fouquet to Poussin, trans. Stuart Gilbert, Geneva, 1963, p. 85.
Jacques Dupont, “Jean Prévost, peintre de la cour de Moulins,” L’Art de France 3 (1963), pp. 78–81, 86, fig. 9.
Nicole Reynaud, “Les Portraits des Bourbons au Louvre: Reconstitution d’un panneau du Maître de Moulins,” Revue du Louvre 13 (1963), p. 166.
Charles Sterling, “Du nouveau sur le Maître de Moulins,” L’Oeil, no. 107 (1963), pp. 2, 5, 7, 11, 13–15, 66–67, fig. 17.
Madeleine Huillet d’Istria, “The Problem of the Master of Moulins,” Burlington Magazine 106 (1964), pp. 43–44.
Charles Sterling, “À propos du ‘Maître de Moulins,’” L’Oeil, no. 109 (1964), p. xxiii.
Sixten Ringbom, Icon to Narrative: The Rise of the Dramatic Close-up in Fifteenth-Century Devotional Painting, Åbo, 1965 (repr., Doornspijk, 1984), p. 38, fig. 6 (detail).
Michel Laclotte, Primitifs français, Paris, 1966, p. 36 (ill.).
Henri Zerner and Sharon Katic, Il Maestro di Moulins,Maestri del colore 213, Milan, 1966, n.pag., pl. 8.
Charles D. Cuttler, Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel, New York, 1968,
p. 227, fig. 284.
A[lain] Erlande-Brandenburg, review of Zerner and Katic 1961, in Bulletin monumental 126 (1968), p. 223.
Charles Sterling, “Jean Hey le Maître de Moulins,” Revue de l’art, no. 1–2
(1968), pp. 30–31.
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago, London, 1970, pp. 34–35 (ill.).
National Gallery, Illustrated General Catalogue, ed. Cecil Gould, London, 1973, p. 440. AIC 1978, pp. 46–47 (ill.).
Albert Châtelet, Les Primitifs septentrionaux: La Peinture dans l’Europe septentrionale et la péninsule Ibérique au XVe siècle, Geneva, 1979, p. 223, fig. 34.
Paul Dupieux, Peuples et princes en Bourbonnais, Moulins, 1980, pp. 287, 289, 291 (ill.).
William Wells, “Abbot Nicaise Delorme and Jean Perréal: Glasgow’s Master of Moulins Reconsidered,” Apollo 114 (1981), p. 154, fig. 15.
Albert Châtelet, “Au temps des Jean: L’Énigme du maître de Moulins,” in Académie de Villefranche-en-Beaujolais, Anne de Beaujeu et ses énigmes (Actes du colloque national, 28 May 1983), Villefranche-sur-Saône, 1984, pp. 115 (ill.), 116, 118, 123.
Nicole Reynaud, “Un Retable perdu du Maître de Moulins?” “Il se rendit en Italie”: Études offertes à André Chastel, Rome and Paris, 1987, p. 123.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago, 1988, p. 19 (ill.).
Albert Châtelet and Roland Recht, Automne et renouveau, 1380–1500, Le
Monde gothique 35, Paris, 1988, fig. 320.
Angelica Dülberg, Privatporträts: Geschichte und Ikonologie einer Gattung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1990, p. 62, fig. 716.
Philippe Lorentz and Annie Regond, Jean Hey: Le Maître de Moulins, exposition documentaire, Moulins, 1990, pp. 39–40, 49 (ill.), no. 6.
Jill Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Du_rer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven and London, 1991, pp. 105, 358, fig. 139.
Art Institute of Chicago, Glad Tidings of Great Joy, Chicago, 1993, pp. 9 (ill.), 39.
Dominique Thiébaut, Le Christ à la colonned’Antonello de Messine, exh. cat. Paris, Musée du Louvre, 1993, p.64, fig. 44 (detail).
Charles McCorquodale, The Renaissance: European Painting, 1400–1600, London, 1994, p. 159, fig. 157.
André Chastel, French Art: The Renaissance, 1430–1620, Paris and New
York, 1995, p. 101.
National Gallery, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, compiled by Christopher Baker and Tom Henry, London, 1995, p. 434.
Catherine Reynolds, “Master of Moulins,” in Dictionary of Art, vol. 20, 1996, p. 733.
Albert Châtelet, “Les Bourbons et les peintres,” in Le Duché de Bourbon: Des origines au connetable;Actes du colloque des 5 et 6 octobre 2000, Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, 2001, p. 147.
Albert Châtelet, Jean Prévost, le Maître de Moulins, Paris, 2001, pp. 72–77, 173–75, figs. 39, 105.
Lorne Campbell, review of Châtelet 2001, in Burlington Magazine 144 (2002), p. 357.
Frédéric Elsig, Le Peinture en France au XVe siècle, Milan, 2004, p. 48, pl.
43.
Martha Wolff, “Reconstitution d’une scène de la Passion peint par le Maître de Moulins,” Revue de l’art, no. 147 (2005), pp. 58, 63, 66, fig. 13.
Martha Wolff in Martha Wolff et al., Northern European and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2008, pp. 15-23, ill.
Martha Wolff, “Anne de France et les artistes: princesse et commanditaire” in Anne de France: Art et pouvoir en 1500 (Actes du colloque organize par Moulins, Ville d’art et d’histoire, les 30 et 31 Mars 2012), ed. Thiérry Crépin-Leblond and Monique Chatenet, Paris, 2014, pp. 133-144, figs. 2 and 3.
Lorne Campbell, National Gallery Catalogues. The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings with French Paintings before 1600, London, 2014, pp. 752-67, figs. 3, 4, 11, and 12.
James Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025). 22 (ill.).
Sophie Caron, “Jean Hey: Un Flamand en Bourbonnais,” Dossiers de l’Art, no. 334 (Dec. 2025–Jan. 2026): 20–21, 24 (ill.).
James Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 60, 258, no. 35, (ill.).
London, Grafton Galleries, National Loan Exhibition, 1909–10, no. 76.
New York, Kleinberger, Loan Exhibition of French Primitives and Objects of Art, 1927, no. 35.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Seventh Loan Exhibition: French Gothic Art of the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Century, 1928, no. 9.
London, Royal Academy of Arts, French Art, 1200–1900, 1932, no. 28.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, 1933, no. 28.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, 1934, no. 17.
Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpieces of Religious Art, 1954, pp. 14–15.
Art Institute of Chicago, Glad Tidings of Great Joy, 1993–94 (no cat.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, New Light on Old Masters: Research on Northern European and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute, 26 June—14 September 2008, no cat.
Paris, Galeries nationales, Grand Palais, France 1500: entre Moyen Age et Renaissance, 2010–11, no. 67.
Art Institute of Chicago, Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Art in Early Renaissance France, 2011, no. 60.
Private collection, Paris, 1906 [according to Friedländer 1925]. Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, London, 1906–14; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, 1914 [invoice dated June 1914, Art Institute Archives.]; on loan to the AIC from 1914; bequeathed to the AIC, 1933.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
