Where are Memling's Annunciation panels displayed?

The panels hang at the Groeningemuseum in Bruges, Belgium. They arrived in 1952 after being separated from the main triptych.

What is living grisaille?

Memling painted the robes in white to imitate stone, but added color to skin, the lily, and the vase. This brought his sculptural figures to life.

Who commissioned this work?

Jan Crabbe, abbot of Ten Duinen Abbey in Koksijde, commissioned the triptych. Memling completed it around 1467 as one of his earliest paintings.

What size are these panels?

Each panel measures 83 by 26.5 centimeters (about 33 by 10 inches). They were the outer wings of a larger triptych that's now dispersed across three museums.

Where Is Annunciation? See It at Groeningemuseum

Hans Memling painted the Annunciation around 1467 as the outer wings of the Crabbe Triptych, commissioned by Jan Crabbe, abbot of Ten Duinen Abbey in Koksijde. The two panels show the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary in a "living grisaille" technique. Memling painted their robes entirely in white to mimic stone sculpture, but added color to their faces, hands, and the symbolic lily.

This approach was innovative for its time. Most grisaille altarpiece exteriors stayed completely monochrome. By animating his figures with flesh tones, Memling brought them startlingly to life. The composition borrows from Rogier van der Weyden's Columba Altarpiece, suggesting Memling may have assisted in that earlier work.

The triptych was later separated. The central panel went to Vicenza, the inner wings to the Morgan Library in New York, and these Annunciation panels to the Groeningemuseum in Bruges. Each panel measures 83 by 26.5 centimeters. The Belgian state acquired them in 1952 after wartime complications.