The Angel Gabriel (one of a pair)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kneeling at her prayer desk, Mary raises her hand in surprise as Gabriel informs her that she will be the mother of the Messiah. The opening of his salutation to her, “Hail, Mary, full of Grace,” is partially inscribed in Latin on the scroll above her. The composition and the classicizing, slightly elongated figures were derived from a work by Raphael (1483–1520) that was widely known through prints. The windows were made after the same cartoon used for an Annunciation in an important cycle devoted to the Life of the Virgin in the church of Sainte-Foy in Conches-en-Ouche, Normandy. The New York architect Stanford White (1853–1906) added the inscription at the bottom of the Gabriel panel. This panel is one of a pair (07.287.12).

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art