Artist: Arthur Hacker (English, 1858 – 1919)
Medium: Antique etching on wove paper after the original oil paint on canvas by master etcher William Heydemann (born in 1866).
Signature: Signed in the plate
Dimensions: Image size 5 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches
Framed Dimensions: Approximately 15 x 20 inches.
Framing: This piece has been professionally matted and framed using all new materials
This scene shows the Christian story of the Annunciation, as told in the Gospel of James. In this version, Mary is met by an angel she cannot see while gathering water from a well. He tells her that she will have a baby and that he should be named Jesus. After studying in London and Paris, Arthur Hacker spent time in Spain and Morocco. This had a strong influence on his art. Mary’s clothing probably reflects Islamic dress Hacker saw during his travels. Infra-red photography shows that the painting originally included a woman wearing a headscarf sitting behind Mary.
Arthur Hacker RA was an English classicist painter. Hacker was the son of Edward Hacker (1812–1905), a line engraver specialising in animal and sporting prints (who was also for many years the registrar of Births and Deaths for the Kentish Town sub-district of Pancras Registration District, Middlesex). In his art he was most known for painting religious scenes and portraits, and his art was also influenced by his extensive travels in Spain and North Africa. He studied at the Royal Academy between 1876 and 1880, and at the Atelier Bonnat in Paris. He was twice exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1878 and 1910, and was elected an Academician in 1910. In 1894 he was the subject of a bust by Edward Onslow Ford. An original portrait by Hacker of Sir Alfred Keogh hangs in the RAMC HQ Mess at Millbank, London. In 1902, Hacker built a new house at Heath End, Checkendon, Oxfordshire, called Hall Ingle, commissioning the young architect Maxwell Ayrton and carrying out the decorations himself. Paintings on public display include The Annunciation at Tate Britain, Pelagia and Philammon in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery, The Children’s Prayer (1888), The Atkinson Museum, Southport and The Temptation of Sir Percival in Leeds City Art Gallery. He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery.