A Belated Christmas Spiral: The Annunciation by "Juan de Flandes" (Revised 1/19/24)

The Annunciation, 1508, Juan de Flandes. Geometry: 2024, DS.

"Juan de Flandes ("John of Flanders") was a Flemish painter active in Spain from 1496 to 1519. His actual name is unknown, although an inscription Juan Astrat on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Straat". Jan Sallaert, who became a master in Ghent in 1480, has also been suggested. He worked in the Early Netherlandish style.

He may have been born around 1460 somewhere in Flanders, Flandes in Spanish, which encompassed modern Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and bordering regions of France. He evidently trained in his home country, most likely in Ghent, as his work shows similarities to that of Joos van Wassenhove, Hugo van der Goes and other Ghent artists. He is only documented after he became an artist at the court of Queen Isabella I of Castile, where he is first mentioned in the accounts in October 1496. He is described as "court painter" by 1498 and continued in the queen's service until her death in 1504..."

- Via Wiki's entry for Juan de Flandes.

"In a list of 23 February 1505, thirty-two of them, including the Last Supper, were acquired by Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands and sister of Isabella’s son-in-law (in whose collection they were seen by Albrecht Dürer). Dürer noted in his diary: ‘And on Friday Lady Margaret showed me all her beautiful things, and among them I saw about forty small pictures in oils, the like of which for cleanness and excellence I have never seen’."

- Although not applicable to The Annunciation,  the quote was sourced from this page in which a full account of Juan de Flandes' mysterious collection of small paintings is given.

(Update:1/19/2024) I'm adding a new spiral to the mix (inset left). While not the "magic act" posted above it still has 2 things going for it: it terminates on the "holy spirit," and it begins to form a pentagram over Mary. There's a third thing. Gabriel conjures up an important golden relationship with his wand. What is it?

(Correction: Gabriel conjures up (at least) 3 golden relationships with his wand. What are they?)

***

I had a different post in mind for the first post of the year, but, as it happened I had the image (above) on file as a possible Christmas alternative, but, it needed research and I didn't have the time for it last year.

As it was, the trail grew cold fairly early on in my search for information, and there doesn't seem to be any clear cyberspace description of who the artist actually was, although we do know he was fairly successful, especially in Spain. (See: Juan de Flandes and His Financial Success in Castile.)

But, Juan de Flandes' Annunciation is possibly one of the most unique of all the many paintings in that genre produced in the late Renaissance, another being Botticelli's Cestello Annunciation (1489), the first spiral painting I documented on this blog... and, still, to this day, one of the best spiral paintings.

The spiral in this somewhat odder Annunciation painted by the Flemish painter, however, has one special feature. It's spiral presents us with a little conjuring effect, a magic act. (Why, it even has a dove!)

I've inset the unembellished original so you can witness it for yourself. Click on the image, and when the "slideshow" pops up, click on the spiral version. Jockey back and forth.  Do you see it?

Abracadabra! the angel performs a magic-trick with his staff... as if it was (an overly long) wand. (Presto! Mary is now with child.)

(Now, there's a mixed metaphor...)

It is, however, the presence of the angel's staff - held at an almost-golden angle - which enables one to "see" the golden triangle.

If I were to venture a guess, I would say that this was an example of the geometry Albrecht Dürer saw so many years ago - in 1521 - when he praised the artist's "precision." Although this image was unlikely among the group of "small paintings" (of Juan de Flandes') Dürer actually saw - it is much larger than the "21.3 x 16.7 cm" given in the Wiki entry - by looking over more of the artist's work, his use of geometrical precision is evident.

And, so is his eye for detail. The book in Mary's hands, for instance (inset left), was probably a real manuscript, both illuminated and gilded, (and, judging by it's condition, created during Juan de Flandes' lifetime).

Actually, the setting and Mary herself are more contemporary with the 1500s than they are with Biblical times, and, once again, considering the presence of the book, Mary was a very well-to-do woman indeed.

But, there's a little high strangeness present in Mary's costume. For one thing, the very red underdress she's wearing is unusual for a virgin. As it happens, the red underdress is often believed to be symbolic of Mary Magdalene. 

But, weirder still is the odd pendant hanging from her cloak's closure; it almost resembles some unique kind of crucifix!

Think about it.

In the last analysis, it's just another piece of a larger puzzle.

***

Ultimately, what most amazed me while writing this post is the realization that Botticelli (1445-1510) and Dürer (1471-1528) and Juan de Flandes (who died in 1519) were making art around the same general time period... another turn-of-the-century, in fact... but a far cry from the one I've been discussing recently.

At the beginning of the 16th century there were a number of very dark realities to deal with. While the Black Death initially circulated around Europe in the 1300s, the 1500s experienced a renewed and refurbished strain of that disease. Moreover, the Enlightenment - which wouldn't formally begin until the next century - was born beneath the shadows of two of mankind's least-enlightened creations: the Inquisitions (the Spanish Inquisition began in 1478; the Roman in 1542), and the European witch-hunts which began in 1450 and lasted for 2 centuries. In any case, the 15th and 16th century artist had to walk a mighty fine line in terms of imagery. Innovation and, certainly, any deviation regarding subject matter might result in cries of heresy... or worse. Biblical imagery, on the other hand, was fairly safe... until you factor in the Reformation and various religious wars!

***

(1/12/24) Then again - and this a common occurrence on this blog - just after I published this post, new information arrived tailored to confound me! And, really, I should've known that while the (alleged) Christian "Feds" (and/or the Papal Predators) were busy cooking "heretics," enlightened artists were trying to save the world... with beauty and knowledge (and my hat-tip to Roerich). And, (seemingly) they got away with it! Moreover, a few of them were championing beauty and knowledge in a very unique way.

You'll note the absolutely gorgeous image of Venus and Cupid just added above, inset right. This Venus and Cupid was painted by Battista Dossi in 1540 and currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art. It was found here along with 48 more images of Venus/Aphrodite painted in the 15 and 16th centuries!

At a quick glance, not all of the paintings on the page are spiral paintings, but Dossi's seems to be, so, I'm including the spiral image here (inset left). Note the dark cloak swirling around Venus/Aphrodite's head and shoulders. Note, too, the fabric's relationship to the spiral. Similar artistic arrangements involving Venus have been with us for over a thousand years.

Stay tuned for the next 4 or 5 (predominately image) posts, when and where I will attempt to illuminate this phenomenon. For now, I will leave you with this... an unusual engraving of Venus/Aphrodite attributed to Cherubino Alberti (1563 - 1615) found on the Rijks Museum website.

The pentagonal golden spiral and the pentagram.