Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

On the feast of the hospitable St Martha, an Annunciation crafted in "lacis" by Catarina Bremselin in the 17th century (see her name and the year worked into the topmost border). The Art Institute of Chicago notes that this panel is in rare condition, its original borders preserved intact.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

On this Feast of St Mary Magdalen, the woman "Apostle to the Apostles", it is fitting to feature a work of art that was most probably executed by a woman.
Whoever she was, she started with a large, plainly woven piece of linen, using wool and silk thread to transform it into a piece of textile art with all the detail of an illuminated manuscript. This is not a tiny handcraft project: the finished pillow cover measures 19 X 20 inches!

From the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

A thirteenth century French image (in oak) of the Virgin of the Annunciation, from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

Jacques Bellange did this etching (printed in black) in 1615 or 1616. From the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

Detail from a 14th century German triptych in ivory. The lower image in the left-hand wing, the Annunciation measures about 4.5 inches high. From the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.