The Feast of the Annunciation has been moved to today, March 25 having fallen on Holy Saturday this year. And here is Fra Angelico's (1437-46) depiction of this well-known gospel scene:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. He went in and said to her, "Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you." (Luke 1:26,27ff)
Fra Angelico painted at the start of the Italian Renaissance, which means his paintings give birth to completely new ideas. We see Mary seated outside (a new idea) on a patio surrounded by arches. This cloister setting would have been familiar to the Dominican friars for whom the painting was created, making the image immediately accessible to them on an emotional level.
The stone columns, serve as frames, the figures of Gabriel and Mary separate and distinct, but also joined into one as heaven and earth come together in the Annunciation. Even the thin, horizontal metal bar which runs through the tops of the columns, while serving the practical purpose of architectural support, all the more symbolizes the coming together of the divine and human.
There is a wooden fence, to the left behind Gabriel, which in symbology means that Mary in her virginity is like an enclosed garden. But I think it's much more than that. I'd suggest that in this painting we are allowed entre into Mary's interior vision - her inner graced life of contemplation.
Dominican friars take vows of poverty and so there is nothing imperial about this Mary. Instead of a gilded throne, she sits on a low wooden stool, as if she were going to milk a cow or sit in a circle of kitchen girls to peel potatoes. Her pink dress echoes the angel's robe; her blue mantle suggests her elevated or royal status.
The only fussiness is seen in Gabriel's highly decorated wings. Maybe Fra Angelico didn't want Gabriel to look like a winged bird, or maybe he just couldn't handle the bare, unadorned reality of what's happening in the scene. Maybe he felt that somehow love has to be decorative. No matter.
The only fussiness is seen in Gabriel's highly decorated wings. Maybe Fra Angelico didn't want Gabriel to look like a winged bird, or maybe he just couldn't handle the bare, unadorned reality of what's happening in the scene. Maybe he felt that somehow love has to be decorative. No matter.
We notice too, that while Gabriel clearly has his eyes fixed on Mary, not a word has been spoken. The two lean into each other, their hands folded across their chests. Already, in silence, there is the language of intimacy and heart.
A friar's little room is called a cell. Behind Mary is just such a room, but I would say the window placed there symbolizes Mary herself. It is through Mary, open in the littleness of her youth, simplicity and humility that God has found incarnating access into our world.
There is nothing extraneous or overtly symbolic in the painting: no vase of white lilies, no prie dieu to kneel upon, no open prayer book, no Holy Spirit dove in the sky, no rays of light - only a lawn of little spring flowers. Something new, fragrant and lovely is beginning here for us!
A key word in all of this is new: God's new idea depicted by an artist in a new way in a new (Renaissance) time. Often in religion we wind up just admiring what's old. Any ideas for yourself, your family, your parish ? Something new and life-giving!
A key word in all of this is new: God's new idea depicted by an artist in a new way in a new (Renaissance) time. Often in religion we wind up just admiring what's old. Any ideas for yourself, your family, your parish ? Something new and life-giving!
