Details

LOT 1928

Doors with Annunciation of the Virgin Scene

CRETAN SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY A.D.

36 3/4 x 27 in. (9.15 kg total, 93.5 x 68.5 cm including frame).

Painted onto a pair of gessoed wooden doors for the iconostasis, pentagonal in form with applied beading to the edges; Left: gilt field with advancing winged figure in ankle-length robes holding a slender wand and with thick curly hair, legend 'Ο ΑΡΧΗ' and 'ΓΑΒΡΗΛ'; Right: similar with Mary in floor-length blue robe and crimson mantle, holding a drop-spindle and winder, with legend 'Ω/MP'; representing the Annunciation of the Virgin by the Archangel Gabriel; mounted on a velvet-covered wooden frame.

Provenance

Acquired on the UK art market.
Private collection, London, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12552-231939.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Literature

Cf. Popescu, G.A., Cristiani d'Oriente, spiritualità, arte e potere nell'Europa Post-Bizantina, Milano, 1999, fig.69, for similar; cf. Fr. Constas, M., ‘Theophanes the Cretan and the Iconography of the Annunciation’ in Annual Report of the Friends of Mt. Athos, 2012, pp.40-47, fig. 2, for a very similar painting on sanctuary doors.