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The Annunciation, a grisaille executed as a tableau vivant, exemplifies the artist's early style (c. 1467-70), which was still strongly reminiscent of Van der Weyden. The panels originally formed the rear of a pair of triptych wings, which were removed and separated from the paintings on the front. The original altarpiece showed the Crucifixion and was probably commissioned by Jan Crabbe, twenty-sixth abbot of the Abbey of the Dunes in Koksijde. The central panel is now on display in the Museo Civico in Vicenza, while the insides of the wings are in the The Morgan Library and Museum in New York. These panels had been moved to Germany during the occupation and were recovered in 1952. They have since been in the museum on permanent loan.
The Annunciation is one of the earliest examples in the Low Countries of a `natural' or `living' grisaille with figures whose bodies are `coloured'.
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