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Detail of the Garden from the Annunciation

Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden (possibly Hans Memling, active by 1465, died 1494) (Netherlandish, 1399/1400???1464)
The Annunciation (detail), 1465???75
Oil on wood; 73 1/4 x 45 1/4 in. (186.1 x 114.9 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.7)

The view through the window of the Virgin???s household exhibits the simplest form of turf bench: the four-walled rectangular frame with turf growing only on the top of the bench. The turf bench in this painting is especially interesting because it serves not only as seating, but also as an enclosure for the garden.

See also “Landscape Design in the Middle Ages” (February 5, 2010).

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