The Archangel Gabriel
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
On public display.
- Checked
- 10 days ago
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the sculpture
TThis carved oak relief shows the Virgin Mary from an Annunciation scene, and was made in ca. 1350-1360 in Lower Saxony, Germany. Together with three other reliefs now also at the V&A, it originally belonged to a winged altarpiece in the Johanneskirche in Lüneburg, which was dismantled in 1856.
In its centre, this altarpiece probably displayed a sculpture showing the Coronation of the Virgin, which now is in the Museum Lüneburg. Two other figures belonging to the altarpiece are now preserved at the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hanover, and one is still displayed in the Johanneskirche itself. It is likely that the relief of the Virgin Mary and its three companion pieces at the V&A, all remarkably shallow, once decorated the altarpiece's wings.
Read on
Winged altarpieces were especially popular North of the Alps. They usually consisted of a central shrine and a set of two or more movable wings. These allowed not only for closing and opening the shrine, but also for including more images, which could be displayed in different ways.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 4848-1856
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 10 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
