The Friedsam Annunciation and the Problem of the Ghent Altarpiece

Abstract

In 1932 the collection of Early Flemish paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of New York was enriched by a fine and rather enigmatical Annunciation acquired and formerly owned by Col. Michael Friedsam (Fig. 1). It has been tentatively attributed to Petrus Cristus, with the reservation, however, that it is “almost a van Eyck.”1