The Annunciation from the Hours of Charles of France

Master of Charles of France

1465 · Tempera, ink, and gold on parchment · The Cloisters

This double-paged Annunciation forms a diptych of remarkable refinement, set on an elaborate stage of simulated architecture and sculpture, and incorporating a procession of angels descending from heaven. It comes from an unfinished book of hours that belonged to Charles, duke of Normandy and brother of King Louis XI. Charles’ favorite residence, the Château de Mehun-sur-Yèvre, near Bourges, appears in the background. At some point before 1905, this image was separated from the rest of the manuscript, which is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris.

Artist: Master of Charles of France
Date: 1465
Medium: Tempera, ink, and gold on parchment
Culture: French
Department: The Cloisters
Credit line: The Cloisters Collection, 1958

Visually similar works

Madonna and Child Enthroned with SaintsTaddeo Gaddi
Orphrey Panels from a ChasubleUnknown
The Fifteen Mysteries and the Virgin of the RosaryNetherlandish Painter (possibly Goswijn van der Weyden, active by 1491, died after 1538), ca. 1515–20
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Peter, Bartholomew, Catherine of Alexandria, and Paul, and (below) the Nativity; left wing (top to bottom): Annunciatory Angel, Crucified Christ with the Virgin, Saints Mary Magdalen and John, and Christ as the Man of Sorrows; right wing (top to bottom): Virgin Annunciate, Saints Onophrius and Paphnutius, and Saint Onophrius Buried by Saint Paphnutius.Tommaso del Mazza|Master of Santa Verdiana|Matteo di Pacino
Manuscript Illumination with Adoration of the MagiMaster of James IV of Scotland (probably Gerard Horenbout)
The Last Judgment; The Virgin and Child with a Bishop-Saint and Saint Peter Martyr; The Crucifixion; The Glorification of Saint Thomas Aquinas; The NativityMaster of the Dominican Effigies
The Temple in Jerusalem, from the "Postilla Litteralis (Literal Commentary)" of Nicholas of LyraUnknown
The PentecostUnknown
Book of HoursSimon Bening
Virgin and Child with the Pietà and SaintsSpanish (Castilian) Painter
The AnnunciationUnknown
Elevation of a Church or Chapel with designs for ornament and a painted triptych of the Virgin MaryJules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise|Eugène-Pierre Gourdet