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A person stands with hands together at the chest in this freestanding, painted wood sculpture. The person’s body faces us and the head turns and looks slightly down to our right in this photograph. Brown hair curls close to the head and down the back of the neck. The skin is ivory white. The almond-shaped eyes are faintly painted, and he has a straight, delicate nose and thin, slightly smiling pink lips. One hand touches his chest and the other is held in front, perhaps with thumbs touching, palm facing our right. White robes lined with indigo blue fall in cascading folds down his body over a rose-pink tunic, and both pool on the octagonal wood base. There are paint losses and small areas of damage throughout but is most noticeable at the bottom. The wood is cracked in the person’s hair.

Pisan 14th Century

The Archangel Gabriel, 1325/1350

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 2

Medium

wood, polychromed and gilded

Dimensions

overall: 159.4 x 47.3 x 36 cm (62 3/4 x 18 5/8 x 14 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1961.9.97

Artists / Makers

Pisan 14th Century (sculptor)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Overview

These two graceful figures, rare life-sized painted wood sculptures surviving from the late Middle Ages, enact the Annunciation as described in the gospel of Saint Luke. Mary responds with restrained amazement to the angel's news that she will become the mother of Christ. Carved completely in the round, with traces of early painting still visible, the statues might have flanked the entrance to the high-altar area of a church. They are early copies from a popular pair of 14th-century marble statues in the church of Santa Caterina in Pisa, Italy. Carbon dating has indicated that each was carved from a tree that was felled at least 600 years ago.

Provenance

(Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955], Florence and Rome); purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1961 to NGA.

[1] Provenance according to Ulrich Middeldorf, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 8.

Associated Names

Contini Bonacossi, Alessandro, Count
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Bibliography

1956: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 254-256, no. 105, repro., as by Nino Pisano.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 390, repro., as by Nino Pisano.

1961: Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961 6-8, color repro. 9, 10, as by Nino Pisano.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 163, as by Nino Pisano.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 144, repro., as by Nino Pisano.

1976: Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 8.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 280, repro.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 174, repro.

2016: National Gallery of Art. Highlights from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, 2016: 38, repro.