UNKNOWN MASTER, Bohemian
(active 1410s)

The Annunciation

c. 1410
Tempera on pear panel, 28,3 x 22 cm
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

The silent devotion of the Virgin kneeling before a charmingly painted praying-desk of clumsy perspective is not disturbed by the appearance of the angel flown here on the fabulous cloud. The friendly faces of the two figures, their curly ringlets or long straight hair, with every single tress painted separately, are typical features of contemporary Bohemian art. The strange colours - the lilac shades of the building, the greenish blue tints of the robes and the cloud supporting the angel - transport the scene into an otherworldly atmosphere of ethereal purity, in harmony with the mentality of the age which regarded the reality of this world as hideous and unworthy of being painted.