Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

 
This lovely and very contemporary Annunciation (actually over 100 years old) is by African-American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner.

In 1879, Tanner was a student of Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Recognized for his treatment of biblical themes, he later spent time in the Holy Land, a trip that was sponsored by an admiring Rodman Wanamaker (the department store magnate). Experiences of racism in Philadelphia and Atlanta impelled Tanner to move to France where his outstanding abilities were recognized and rewarded with honors. It is somewhat ironic that his masterpiece Annunciation, painted in Paris, is today in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

Three years after Columbus sailed the ocean blue, an Italian artist created this Annunciation as part of a book of hours (now in The Morgan Library and Museum). In the blue band within the arch that opens out into a sunny landscape, the words AVE GRATIA (Hail, [full of] grace) and DOMINUS  (the Lord) can be read.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

This week's image is one of several Annunciations by 15th century artist Hans Memling.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

Detail from an Italian book of hours (1482), from the collection of The Morgan Library and Museum.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

The Annunciation, by Giovanni Lanfranco (ca 1616)