Annunciation

Hans Memling was a German-Flemish painter who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. Born in the Middle Rhine region, he probably spent his childhood in Mainz. During his apprenticeship as a painter he moved to the Netherlands and spent time in the Brussels workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. In 1465 he was made a citizen of Bruges, where he became one of the leading artists and the master of a large workshop. A tax document from 1480 lists him among the wealthiest citizens. Memling's religious works often incorporated donor portraits of the clergymen, aristocrats, and burghers who were his patrons. These portraits built upon the styles which Memling learned in his youth.

The Annunciation is a panel-painting by the Early Netherlandish artist Hans Memling. It depicts the Annunciation as the archangel Gabriel's announces to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive and become the mother of Jesus, as described in the Gospel of Luke. The painting was executed in the 1480s and transferred to canvas from its original oak panel sometime after 1928. It is today held in the Robert Lehman collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.