How does this artwork elucidate its Background?
Prior to painting biblical subjects, Tanner made two genre paintings depicting African Americans: The Banjo Lesson (1893) and The Thankful Poor (1894). However, he took a new direction following the completion of the latter. According to scholar and family friend William S. Scarborough, Tanner "had always been strongly religious" and that "it had long been the wish of his father's heart that his son should paint Biblical subjects..." As a result, Tanner pursued religious painting, a field that was "ripe for commercial exploitation" at the time. One of his first religious paintings was Daniel in the Lion's Den followed two years later by The Resurrection of Lazarus. Both paintings were exhibited at the Paris Salon and won distinctions.In 1897, Tanner embarked on a trip to Egypt and Palestine. The trip was sponsored by Rodman Wanamaker, whose comment that "in the Orient the light, both interior and exterior, the mannerisms of the people, the costumes and habits of living, all are vastly different from anything that could be imagined in the West" likely influenced Tanner's development of The Annunciation and subsequent settings of his religious paintings.Tanner intended for The Annunciation to be his entry for the 1898 Paris Salon. Following the success of his The Resurrection of Lazarus the year prior, Tanner perhaps desired to attract more viewers in the 1898 Salon. As such, Tanner chose the largest canvas size of his career for The Annunciation. He was unsatisfied with the first version, however, believing that "there seemed no other way out of the difficulty than to commence a new one." The final version of The Annunciation has been described as "very close" to a study that is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.Though it has been suggested that Tanner's eventual wife Jessie Olssen served as the model for the painting's Mary, Sewell & Mosby note that Tanner likely did not meet Olssen until after the painting's Salon exhibition.
Palestine biblical William S. Scarborough Annunciation The Resurrection of Lazarus Rodman Wanamaker The Banjo Lesson Paris Salon Mary Smithsonian American Art Museum genre painting The Thankful Poor African Americans African American Egypt Tanner