Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

We've been spending a lot of time in Spain this year! Here's another altarpiece, with an Annunciation detail. This time the work is in tempera, stucco reliefs and remains of varnished metal plate on wood, and that metal features some amazing details, evidence of the quality of the workshop of La Seu d'Urgell (whose Annunciation we saw on January 29).

Annunciation (detail from altarpiece below)

Bottom row, from left: Gabriel and Mary (Annunciation);
Joseph, Mary, Simeon (Presentation; see the doves Joseph is carrying);
The Dormition of Mary.
Top row, from left: Gaspar, Balthasar, Melchior (the Magi);
Mary and Christ-child enthroned; Joseph enthroned; The Visitation.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

Early in the Easter season, we saw the Coronation image from the grave-panel of Sancho Sánchez Carrillo and his wife Juana, from Burgos, Spain. Here is what remains of the Annunciation, and the whole panel so that you can see the context. From the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

Detail of the Annunciation from the grave-panel

Counter-clockwise, from top left:
Annunciation, Nativity, Dormition, Coronation

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

A mid-15th century Italian altarpiece once featured this somewhat simple, highly geometric Annunciation. According to the notes of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, current holder of the piece, the original setting was probably a Franciscan church in Rimini.

© Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

As we re-enter Ordinary Time and resume the praying of the Angelus, I am still trying to find the rest of this Annunciation! So far all you can see is Our Lady and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit as Gabriel's hand indicates that a message is being delivered. It is from a wonderfully designed book Austrian "Biblia pauperum" (Bible of the poor). (See more two-page spreads from the book o the Manuscript Miniatures website.)

Flanking the image of the Annunciation, we see three Old Testament prophets: David, Jeremiah, and (I think) Gideon (whose fleece was considered a Marian type or anticipatory symbol). In the Book of Judges, Gideon was also greeted at the beginning of his service by an angel who said, "The Lord is with you."

St Florian Biblia pauperum, c. 1310-1320
Sankt Florian, Austria

As we return to the Angelus after seven weeks of the Regina Coeli, I am happy to offer you a new printable image that you can freely reproduce in order to make it easier for you to pray the Angelus yourself and encourage others to adopt the practice. Just download the front and back images here and print them on business cards. 

The image is from a splendid manuscript from 1400 or so by the hand of an otherwise unknown Brother Philipp. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles made this and other images available for use under its Open Content program. (May God bless all who worked on that project!)

I am hopeful that the link for sharing will work better than the one I have been using until now. If not, I know you will alert me right away!