Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

The Annunciation in this page of a Book of Hours (from The Morgan Library and Museum) is portrayed as the grand outcome of the other incidents which tell the story of Mary's parents, long identified as Anne and Joachim. According to the beloved story (the "Proto-Evangelium of James," written about 100 years after Christ) the experience of Joachim and Anne more or less parallels the story of Abraham and Sarah. Like the patriarch and his wife, the couple had grown old without children, but an angel came to each of them with the promise of a child. We have, then, on this page, a set of three angelic annunciations, two of them in view of the third and greatest.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

James Tissot was well-known and highly regarded for his biblical art, which reflected the time he spent in the Holy Land becoming familiar with both the terrain and the customs of the people. His Annunciation is part of his series on the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and is housed (but not on display) in the Brooklyn Museum.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

This week The Angelus Project features a two-page spread from a 15th century French Book of Hours. On the left page, Anne of France (“one of the most powerful women of late fifteenth-century Europe”) kneels in prayer as she “witnesses” the Annunciation from behind the Angel Gabriel, while the Virgin occupies the entire right page.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

This week (Friday) marks the 100th anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the conclusion of a series of earthly visits by Mary to children just as World War I ("the war to end all wars") was about to inaugurate a century of unprecedented violence that continues to blaze across the world. For such an anniversary, the almost apocalyptic style of El Greco is fitting for our Annunciation image of the week. This is the third El Greco image that has been featured on The Angelus Project; you can find the earlier two El Greco depictions of the Annunciation here.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

This Annunciation, framed by a rosary of blossoms, seems perfect as we begin the Month of the Holy Rosary! From a 15th century French Book of Hours in The Morgan Library and Museum,