{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O85729"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85729/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AK2795/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AK2795/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AK2795","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA0595","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O85729/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O85729","accessionNumber":"C.72-1930","objectType":"Panel","titles":[{"title":"Annunciation to St Anne","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is one of two panels in the Museum's collections (Museum nos. C.71 & 72-1930) which were originally from the north window of the choir of Wallfahrtskirche in Strassengel, near Graz in Austria. Graz is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria. The panels formed part of a series of windows depicting episodes from the Life of the Virgin Mary.  The church was consecrated in 1353 and it is believed that this series of windows dates from that time. \r\n\r\nWallfahrtskirche was restored in 1885 and it was probably at this time that some of the choir windows illustrating the Life of the Virgin Mary were removed. \r\n\r\nThe Life of the Virgin Mary was a popular subject in medieval devotion. It was illustrated in manuscripts, frescoes, panel paintings, sculpture, textiles and, as here, in stained glass. Very little of Mary's life is recorded in the Canonical Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Other sources such as popular saints' lives were consulted. One of the most influential collections of saints' lives was the 'Golden Legend' which was compiled in the middle of the 13th century. This text, reproduced many times in the late medieval period, had an enormous effect on the artistic works of the medieval church. \r\n\r\nThe original sources that the compiler of the 'Golden Legend' used for the life of Mary were what are now called the 'Apocryphal Gospels'. These are texts written in the early centuries of the Christian era that were considered to be non-authoritative and were excluded from the canon that formed the first Bible. \r\n\r\nThis panel depicts St. Anne at the moment when an angel comes to tell her that she will conceive a child. The angel had already visited her husband, Joachim, to say that Anne would conceive and give birth to a girl who would be called Mary. \r\n\r\nThis story is an obvious parallel to that of the canonical story of the Annunciation to Mary. The angel informs Mary that she is with child and will give birth to Jesus, saviour of mankind.","physicalDescription":"The elderly St Anne sits on a bench, the base of which is perforated with narrow rounded arches. The bench is under a high canopy, connected to it by two columns rising from its back. The angel stands on the left of the panel, blessing St Anne and with his right hand pointing to heaven. The background is composed of a diaper of stylised oak leaves within diamond-shaped vesicles.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"stained glass","id":"AAT10853"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Stained glass","categories":[{"text":"Stained Glass","id":"THES48891"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AK2795","2017KA0595"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"9 (VA)","id":"THES49705"},"free":"","case":"WS","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Panel","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Styria","id":"x29741"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1350-1355","earliest":"1345-01-01","latest":"1355-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"C.71-1930","id":"O85651"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Presented by Art Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"104.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"framed","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"54.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"framed","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"3.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"framed","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"101.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sight","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"51.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sight","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"13.1","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"framed","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries 2006.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"From a three-light window in the choir of the Wallfahrtskirche at Stassengel, near Graz. Strassengel\r\nStibbe, Eugen\r\n\tsold the panels to V&A\r\nThese two panels were originally from the north window of the choir of Wallfahrtskirche (Marian pilgrimage church) in Strassengel, near Graz in Austria. Graz is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria. The panels formed part of a series of windows depicting episodes from the life of the Virgin Mary.  The church was consecrated in 1353 and it is believed that this series of windows dates from that time. They are similar in style to windows in St. Stephen's Church in Vienna which were created between 1340 and 1350 and are associated with the work of the 'Master of Hohenfurth', a Bohemian painter active in the middle of the 14th century.\r\n\r\nThey were still in situ in 1858 when they were recorded in a government report. It is assumed that they were removed from the church during restoration work in 1885.\r\n\r\nThey were acquired by the Museum with assistance from the National Art Collections Fund in 1930.\r\n\r\nTwo other panels from this series of the Life of the Virgin Mary are in the Kuntsgewerbemuseum in Vienna and others are in the Joanneum in Graz (apparently), the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and in Kyiv (Kiev).","historicalContext":"These two panels were originally from the north window of the choir of Wallfahrtskirche in Strassengel, near Graz in Austria. Graz is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria. The panels formed part of a series of windows depicting episodes from the Life of the Virgin Mary.  The church was consecrated in 1353 and it is believed that this series of windows dates from that time. \r\n\r\nWallfahrtskirche was restored in 1885 and it was probably at this time that some of the choir windows illustrating the Life of the Virgin Mary were removed. \r\n\r\nThe Life of the Virgin Mary was a popular subject in medieval devotion. It was illustrated in manuscripts, frescoes, panel paintings, sculpture, textiles and, as here, in stained glass. Very little of Mary's life is recorded in the Canonical Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Other sources such as popular saints' lives were consulted. One of the most influential collections of saints' lives was the 'Golden Legend' which was compiled in the middle of the 13th century. This text, reproduced many times in the late medieval period, had an enormous effect on the artistic works of the medieval church. \r\n\r\nThe original sources that the compiler of the 'Golden Legend' used for the life of Mary were what are now called the 'Apocryphal Gospels'. These are texts written in the early centuries of the Christian era that were considered to be non-authoritative and were excluded from the canon that formed the first Bible. \r\n\r\nThis panel depicts St. Anne at the moment when an angel comes to tell her that she will conceive a child. The angel had already visited her husband, Joachim, to say that Anne would conceive and give birth to a girl who would be called Mary. \r\n\r\nThis story is an obvious parallel to that of the canonical story of the Annunciation to Mary. The angel informs Mary that she is with child and will give birth to Jesus, saviour of mankind.","briefDescription":"Panel of clear, coloured and flashed glass painted with brown/black pigment. Depicting the Annunciation to St Anne. Originally from the Wallfahrtskirche (Marian pilgrimage church) in Strassengel. Made in Austria (Styria), about 1350-1355.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul. Medieval and Renaissance stained glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 2003.","id":"AUTH409793"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Foister, Susan, Art of Light: German Renaissance Stained Glass, London: The National Gallery, 2008.","id":"AUTH347591"},"details":"pp. 8-9. ill.","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bernard Rackham, 'Austrian Stained Glass at South Kensington', Burlington Magazine, vol.56, no.327 (June 1930), pp.291-3"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Franz Kieslinger, Gotische Glasmalerei on Oesterreich bis 1450, Zurich, Leizip and Vienna, 1928"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Austro-Hungarian Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale, report, 1858"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"?, 'Stained-Glass Windows: An Exhibition of Glass in the Metropolitan Museum's Collection', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 30, No. 3, Stained Glass Windows (Dec., 1971 - Jan., 1972), pp. 110-152"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ernst Bacher, Die mittelalterlichen Glasgemälde in der Steiermark, I: Teil Graz und Strassengel, CVMA Austria, vol. III (Vienna, 1979"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Anne (Saint)","id":"N404"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"angels","id":"x30526"},{"text":"saints","id":"AAT150555"},{"text":"women","id":"AAT25943"},{"text":"mothers","id":"AAT25932"},{"text":"architecture","id":"AAT54156"},{"text":"diaper-work","id":"AAT10144"},{"text":"maple leaf","id":"x37326"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"maternity","id":"AAT221442"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.72-1930"],"accessionNumberNum":"72","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1930,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LM9609","2019LN4811","2019LR2347","2019LT3333","2019LU3753"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2003-11-17","availableToBook":false}}