Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

A thirteenth century French image (in oak) of the Virgin of the Annunciation, from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

Annunciation by the Master of the Triptych, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About the artist (from the Museum site):
This master is recognized as the enameler of a triptych with a central scene of the Annunciation flanked by donor portraits of Louis XII of France (1462–1515) and his queen, Anne de Bretagne (d. 1514), painted between 1499 and 1514. Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, that triptych is arguably the most beautiful early sixteenth-century Limoges enamel in existence. This plaque is a variant of the London triptych’s central panel.

Workshop of Master of the Triptych of Louis XII
(ca. 1490–ca. 1515)
Date: probably early 16th century
Culture: French, Limoges
Medium: Painted enamel on copper, partly gilt

Praying the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

This popular (and, at 5'7'', monumental) Annunciation is by Eugène Emmanuel Amaury Pineu Duval (more commonly known as Amaury-Duval), and was commissioned by the French government in 1856.

Pondering the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

This lovely page from a Book of Hours was illustrated by Jean Bourdichon of Tours, who illuminated manuscripts for French royalty throughout his long and active life. Gabriel's pose is surprising. Perhaps the message has already been delivered in full and the angel awaits Mary's response?

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Gift of Peter Sharrer, 2004).

Pondering the Angelus with Art: This Week's Image

It is not entirely clear that this actually is an Annunciation, although many of the usual features are in the image (Mary at prayer beneath a canopy, the arriving angel and rays of light from Heaven and then from the angel), but other typical features are absent (lily or staff, the words "Hail Mary," a dove or clear representation of the mystery at hand). The words below the image are the opening verse of the Divine Office, "God [come] to [my] assistance," which would be expected in a Book of Hours.


By the Master of Guillaume Lambert (French, active about 1475 - 1485), from the J. Paul Getty Museum Open Content Program.