diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java
index af84f7b5256..b7a528609d7 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotatedElementUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -188,41 +188,46 @@ public class AnnotatedElementUtils {
 			Processor<T> processor, Set<AnnotatedElement> visited, int metaDepth) {
 
 		if (visited.add(element)) {
-			Annotation[] annotations =
-					(traverseClassHierarchy ? element.getDeclaredAnnotations() : element.getAnnotations());
-			for (Annotation annotation : annotations) {
-				if (annotation.annotationType().getName().equals(annotationType) || metaDepth > 0) {
-					T result = processor.process(annotation, metaDepth);
-					if (result != null) {
-						return result;
-					}
-					result = doProcess(annotation.annotationType(), annotationType, traverseClassHierarchy,
-							processor, visited, metaDepth + 1);
-					if (result != null) {
-						processor.postProcess(annotation, result);
-						return result;
+			try {
+				Annotation[] annotations =
+						(traverseClassHierarchy ? element.getDeclaredAnnotations() : element.getAnnotations());
+				for (Annotation annotation : annotations) {
+					if (annotation.annotationType().getName().equals(annotationType) || metaDepth > 0) {
+						T result = processor.process(annotation, metaDepth);
+						if (result != null) {
+							return result;
+						}
+						result = doProcess(annotation.annotationType(), annotationType, traverseClassHierarchy,
+								processor, visited, metaDepth + 1);
+						if (result != null) {
+							processor.postProcess(annotation, result);
+							return result;
+						}
 					}
 				}
-			}
-			for (Annotation annotation : annotations) {
-				if (!AnnotationUtils.isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(annotation)) {
-					T result = doProcess(annotation.annotationType(), annotationType, traverseClassHierarchy,
-							processor, visited, metaDepth);
-					if (result != null) {
-						processor.postProcess(annotation, result);
-						return result;
+				for (Annotation annotation : annotations) {
+					if (!AnnotationUtils.isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(annotation)) {
+						T result = doProcess(annotation.annotationType(), annotationType, traverseClassHierarchy,
+								processor, visited, metaDepth);
+						if (result != null) {
+							processor.postProcess(annotation, result);
+							return result;
+						}
 					}
 				}
-			}
-			if (traverseClassHierarchy && element instanceof Class) {
-				Class<?> superclass = ((Class<?>) element).getSuperclass();
-				if (superclass != null && !superclass.equals(Object.class)) {
-					T result = doProcess(superclass, annotationType, true, processor, visited, metaDepth);
-					if (result != null) {
-						return result;
+				if (traverseClassHierarchy && element instanceof Class) {
+					Class<?> superclass = ((Class<?>) element).getSuperclass();
+					if (superclass != null && !superclass.equals(Object.class)) {
+						T result = doProcess(superclass, annotationType, true, processor, visited, metaDepth);
+						if (result != null) {
+							return result;
+						}
 					}
 				}
 			}
+			catch (Exception ex) {
+				AnnotationUtils.logIntrospectionFailure(element, ex);
+			}
 		}
 		return null;
 	}
@@ -232,7 +237,7 @@ public class AnnotatedElementUtils {
 	 * Callback interface used to process an annotation.
 	 * @param <T> the result type
 	 */
-	private static interface Processor<T> {
+	private interface Processor<T> {
 
 		/**
 		 * Called to process the annotation.
diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java
index 687a8cd8a92..6a427440ee2 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/annotation/AnnotationUtils.java
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 				value = ((Class<?>) value).getName();
 			}
 			else if (value instanceof Class[]) {
-				Class<?>[] clazzArray = (Class[]) value;
+				Class<?>[] clazzArray = (Class<?>[]) value;
 				String[] newValue = new String[clazzArray.length];
 				for (int i = 0; i < clazzArray.length; i++) {
 					newValue[i] = clazzArray[i].getName();
@@ -726,14 +726,30 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 	}
 
 
-	private static void logIntrospectionFailure(AnnotatedElement annotatedElement, Exception ex) {
+	/**
+	 * Log an introspection failure (in particular {@code TypeNotPresentExceptions}) -
+	 * before moving on, pretending there were no annotations on this specific element.
+	 * @param element the element that we tried to introspect annotations on
+	 * @param ex the exception that we encountered
+	 */
+	static void logIntrospectionFailure(AnnotatedElement element, Exception ex) {
 		Log loggerToUse = logger;
 		if (loggerToUse == null) {
 			loggerToUse = LogFactory.getLog(AnnotationUtils.class);
 			logger = loggerToUse;
 		}
-		if (loggerToUse.isInfoEnabled()) {
-			loggerToUse.info("Failed to introspect annotations on [" + annotatedElement + "]: " + ex);
+		if (element instanceof Class && Annotation.class.isAssignableFrom((Class<?>) element)) {
+			// Meta-annotation lookup on an annotation type
+			if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				logger.debug("Failed to introspect meta-annotations on [" + element + "]: " + ex);
+			}
+		}
+		else {
+			// Direct annotation lookup on regular Class, Method, Field
+			if (loggerToUse.isInfoEnabled()) {
+				logger.info("Failed to introspect annotations on [" + element + "]: " + ex);
+			}
+
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -793,19 +809,24 @@ public abstract class AnnotationUtils {
 		}
 
 		@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
-		private void process(AnnotatedElement annotatedElement) {
-			if (this.visited.add(annotatedElement)) {
-				for (Annotation ann : annotatedElement.getAnnotations()) {
-					if (ObjectUtils.nullSafeEquals(this.annotationType, ann.annotationType())) {
-						this.result.add((A) ann);
-					}
-					else if (ObjectUtils.nullSafeEquals(this.containerAnnotationType, ann.annotationType())) {
-						this.result.addAll(getValue(ann));
-					}
-					else if (!isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(ann)) {
-						process(ann.annotationType());
+		private void process(AnnotatedElement element) {
+			if (this.visited.add(element)) {
+				try {
+					for (Annotation ann : element.getAnnotations()) {
+						if (ObjectUtils.nullSafeEquals(this.annotationType, ann.annotationType())) {
+							this.result.add((A) ann);
+						}
+						else if (ObjectUtils.nullSafeEquals(this.containerAnnotationType, ann.annotationType())) {
+							this.result.addAll(getValue(ann));
+						}
+						else if (!isInJavaLangAnnotationPackage(ann)) {
+							process(ann.annotationType());
+						}
 					}
 				}
+				catch (Exception ex) {
+					logIntrospectionFailure(element, ex);
+				}
 			}
 		}