Annunciation of Mary
- Subject
- Late Gothic retable depicting scenes from the lives of Mary and Jesus
- Author, school, workshop
- Wit Stwosz (ca. 1448-1533)
- Contributor
- -
- Style
- Late Gothic
- Date
- 1477-1489
- Type
- Altarpiece in the form of a pentaptych
- Material and technique
- Wood/carving, gilding, polychrome
- Size
- 2,5 × 2,3 m
- Signatures and inscriptions
- -
- Identity number
- -
- Department
- -
- Links/analogies
- -
- Owner
- Saint Mary's Basilica in Krakow
- Copyright
- Saint Mary's Basilica in Krakow
- Location
- Saint Mary's altar (by Wit Stwosz) in the presbytery
- Description
- Mary giving her consent to the conception of the Messiah ('may it be done to me according to your word') initiates the story of Salvation. The sculptor has conveyed the extraordinary nature of this scene through the movement of the robes. The rich, transversely folded dresses of the seated Mary find counterbalance in the dynamically puffed out robe of the heavenly messenger. Here, the figures disappear directly under the heaps of material.
