The Annunciation

Currently not on view

The Annunciation

1898

Henry Ossawa Tanner (American (active France), 1859–1937)

Tanner painted The Annunciation soon after returning to Paris from a trip to Egypt and Palestine in 1897. The son of a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Tanner specialized in religious subjects, and wanted to experience the people, culture, architecture, and light of the Holy Land. Influenced by what he saw, Tanner created an unconventional image of the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God. Mary is shown as an adolescent dressed in rumpled Middle Eastern peasant clothing, without a halo or other holy attributes. Gabriel appears only as a shaft of light. Tanner entered this painting in the 1898 Paris Salon exhibition, after which it was bought for the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1899, making it his first work to enter an American museum.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

The Annunciation

Date:

1898

Artist:

Henry Ossawa Tanner (American (active France), 1859–1937)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

57 × 71 1/4 inches (144.8 × 181 cm) Framed: 6 feet 1 3/4 inches × 7 feet 3 1/4 inches (187.3 × 221.6 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1899

Accession Number:

W1899-1-1

Geography:

Made in Paris, France, Europe

We are always open to learning more about our collections and updating the website. Does this record contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? Contact us here.

Please note that this particular artwork might not be on view when you visit. Don’t worry—we have plenty of exhibitions for you to explore.

Currently not on view