Head of the Virgin
Artist: Hans Holbein the Elder (German, ca.1465-1524)
Date: 1500-1501
Dimensions:
H: 17 1/4 in. (43.8 cm); W: 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm)
Medium: Oil on wood panel
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1951.341
Label Text:This painting of the Virgin Mary originally belonged to a polyptych (a multi-paneled altarpiece) that measured over 20 feet wide. Just a fragment, it was cut from a scene of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will be the mother of the Christ Child. Only one other fragment, Gabriel’s head, survives from the scene. Originally in the Dominican church in Frankfurt, Germany, the altarpiece was taken apart and dispersed in the 1700s when changes in church practice and artistic taste led to the removal of many such elaborate Medieval and Renaissance polyptychs.
An engraving by Israhel von Meckenem may give an idea of the general composition of the original Holbein panel. It shows Mary and Gabriel before a framed picture of the pregnant Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth. This picture within a picture may explain the partial figure above Mary’s head in the Holbein painting.
An engraving by Israhel von Meckenem may give an idea of the general composition of the original Holbein panel. It shows Mary and Gabriel before a framed picture of the pregnant Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth. This picture within a picture may explain the partial figure above Mary’s head in the Holbein painting.
On view
In Collection(s)