Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

The Annunciation, by Hans Memling.

From the Metropolitan Museum page for this masterpiece: Like other fifteenth-century Flemish painters working in the wake of Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling cloaked religious imagery in the pictorial language of everyday life, paying close attention to naturalistic detail. This Annunciation takes place in a comfortably appointed bedchamber, though many of the domestic furnishings have symbolic connotations. The carafe of water, through which light passes uncorrupted, and the vase of lilies are symbols of the Virgin's purity, while the empty candleholder signifies her imminent role as bearer of Christ, light of the world. Gabriel's priestly garb alludes to the ritual of the Mass and, therefore, the incarnation of Christ. A soft glowing light falls on the Virgin and suffuses the room, elevating the scene from the realm of the ordinary and signaling the sacred nature of the drama.


The Lehman Annunciation, one of Memling's most important works, reportedly retained its original frame, inscribed with the date 1482, well into the nineteenth century. It has been suggested, however, that the final number of the inscription had become illegible and that the year recorded was actually 1489, a date more consonant with the painting's style.

Pondering the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

"Mary is the ladder that God made for Himself, by which he descended from Heaven to earth."

Blessed James Alberione

Contemporary American artist John Lautermilch graduated from Washington University School of Fine Arts (St. Louis, Missouri) with a certificate in fine art. He has been painting for the past 60 years and has had numerous one man shows. His most recent shows were at the Missouri Botanical Garden and Componere Art Gallery in University City where he displays his work. He has completed numerous commissions in his life, the most recent was for the Lutheran Senior Services.

Pondering the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

From Wikipedia: Matthias Stom or Matthias Stomer (c. 1600 – after 1652) was a Dutch golden age painter considered one of the masters of Utrecht Caravaggism. Other variants of his name are Matthias Stohom or Stomma, Matheo Schem and Matteo Tomar. Stom spent most of his artistic life in Italy, and 200 of his works have been preserved.

Pondering the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

William Brassey Hole was an English artist who grew up in Scotland where he acquired a background in civil engineering. He was a prolific artist of biblical scenes: he had traveled to the Holy Land to prepare for this, eventually producing 80 watercolors for his “The Life of Jesus of Nazareth,” exhibited in London in 1906. Presumably the Annunciation was part of that project.

Pondering the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

The vivid colors of this contemporary Annunciation by Jan Oliver-Schultz  of Arizona seems perfect for a summer day. Mary's mantle is covered with stars like the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe.