The Annunciation and the Visitation

religious

The picture shows the left wing of the Dijon Altarpiece. The unusual shape of this picture is due to the fact that it formed the side-panel of a triptych, and as such it had to fit the shape of the central shrine containing groups of sculptures. Broederlam endeavoured to fill all empty spaces with a more or less even distribution of painted forms.

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About the Artist

Melchior Broederlam

Netherlandish painter, court painter to Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, from 1387. Documents show that he was a busy and versatile artist, but his only surviving works are two wings from an altarpiece representing The Annunciation and Visitation and The Presentation and Flight into Egypt (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, 1394-9). They are among the first and finest examples of International Gothic, combining lavish decorative display with realistic touches that look forward to the later development of the Netherlandish School. The figure of St Joseph in The Flight into Egypt, for example, is represented as an authentic peasant.

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