The Annunciation with the 1st Duke of Alba

The painting was purchased after the death of Don Valentín Carderera by the 16th Duke of Alba, Don Carlos Fitz-James Stuart. After the fire of the Liria Palace in 1936, he was reported missing, but was found with other works of art belonging to the Casa de Alba in October 1957 in the basements of the British Embassy.

The table is painted on both sides. The back of the table depicts the Adoration of the Kings. The table is split from top to bottom, but the preservation of the paint is excellent on the front side except for some inevitable retouching to disguise the crack. The reverse has numerous reprints that were only partially suppressed when the work was restored in 1958. Don Diego Angulo established the stylistic connection between the table (believed to be from the Castilian school of the mid-15th century) with the art of the Master of the Virgo Inter Virgines and of course it can be at the head of his works. The relationship established by Professor Angulo between the Annunciation of the House of Alba and the painting of the same subject in the Suermont Museum in Aachen, and the Adoration of the Kings that appears on the back, with that of the shepherds of the Vienna Museum, is beyond doubt. Don Valentín Carderera, who owned the painting, identified the donor with Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 1st Count of Alba, who died in 1464. The identification, accepted by Don Ángel M. de Barcia, cannot be maintained if one thinks that the painting must have been made in the last quarter of a century. Thus, it can be certain that the person represented is Don García Álvarez de Toledo, 1st Duke of Alba, who died in 1488 and the son of the previous one. The presence of Don García in the painting forces us to consider the problem of how this painting could be made: would the artist be in Spain? , would the Duke of Holland visit? It should not be forgotten that the iconographic value of this table may be diminished if it is demonstrated that the shield was later painted. Professor Röell has verbally indicated the possibility that the castle in the background was, although conventionally drawn, that of Alba de Tormes.