DISCOVERART

Unknown artist

Annunciation

probably 19th century, in the style of early 16th century
Pen and brown ink, heightened with brush and brown wash, white gouache, and gold paint on blue-toned tan laid paper
20.2 × 14.4 cm (8 × 5.7 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This drawing is not what it appears to be. It shows a typical Renaissance subject—the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear the son of God—and is executed in a technique common in Germany in the early 16th century. However, recent analysis has proven that this work is a forgery. An unknown draftsperson drew the composition on a sheet of old German paper datable to around 1500 but employed a blue pigment that was invented only in 1709. Created with the intent to deceive, the drawing passed through the art market and several private collections as an authentic 16th-century work.

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