AFTER ten years away, an 18th century art masterpiece has returned to Winchester College and is now on public display.
François Lemoyne’s The Annunciation (1727) is on show in the Treasury museum, open daily from 2-4pm. Entry is free.
It has been on loan at the National Gallery in London.
The college wants it to be on show in Winchester and a new home has been created in the museum.
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Headmaster Dr Tim Hands said: “We are delighted to welcome back this beautiful painting to Winchester College. This means Winchester residents have a new masterpiece on their doorsteps to visit and enjoy.
“It was really important to us that the public should be able to continue to see this important work of art for free and therefore I am particularly pleased that we have found it a new home in our Treasury museum.”
The Annunciation has been at the College since 1729 and originally hung above the altar in Chapel. It was a gift from John Burton, headmaster of Winchester from 1724 to 1766.
The painting illustrates a passage in St Luke’s Gospel, where the archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus. This subject was particularly appropriate for Winchester College, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but the choice of a Catholic artist was unusual at the time. Lemoyne’s work is probably the earliest example, after the Reformation, of a foreign painter being commissioned to produce an altarpiece for an English church.
The painting was taken out of Chapel in 1864 when the wooden panelling behind the altar was removed in preparation for William Butterfield’s restoration of the medieval stonework beneath. Unable to return to its original position, the Annunciation was hung in various locations around the College.
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It remained largely unknown until 2011, regarded by 20th century art historians as a ‘lost’ work by Lemoyne. The painting is now recognised as one of the major works of a key figure in 18th-century art and is the subject of a book by Mark Byford (The Annunciation: a Pilgrim’s Quest, 2018), who presented a lecture on the painting at Winchester College’s Heritage Open Days in 2019.
Mr Byford told the Chronicle: “I am delighted to hear that this painting has returned to the city of Winchester after a decade away on loan to the National Gallery. You can see it for free on display in the Winchester College Treasury.
“Searching for the story behind the picture and the meaning of its subject matter inspired me to embark on an unforgettable three year pilgrimage that resulted in the book, The Annunciation: A Pilgrim’s Quest.”
Entry to the school museum has been free since September 2019.
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