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.
No comments:
Post a Comment