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| Andrea Della Robbia, Annunciation Italian, ca. 1493 Florence, Spedale degli Innocenti, Cloister |
The next group of images I would like to present for the
Annunciation is, at first glance, very similar to the Simplest form, except for
one detail. During the course of the
eleventh century speculation regarding the mechanism by which the Incarnation physically
occurred began to simmer in the Western church.
It is keyed off Mary’s question to the angel “How can this be, since I
have no relations with a man?” and
Gabriel’s reply “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you.” (Luke 34-35)
But just what does it mean to “come upon” or to “overshadow”? Scholars and then artists began to propose possible means.1
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| Annunciation From a Psalter English, 13th Century New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS G 25, fol. 1 |
It is during this time that new images of the Annunciation
appeared. At first glance they look very
much like those images that had gone before.
They show the two figures of Gabriel and Mary with little indication of
surroundings. The principle difference
is that they include the Dove of the Holy Spirit in flight toward Mary or even
perched near her.
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| Annunciation From the Psalter of St. Louis and Blanche of Castille French (Paris), ca. 1225 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Arsenal 1186, fol. 16 |
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| Master Henri, Annunciation From Livre d'image de Madame Marie French (Hainaut), 1285-1288 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Nouvelle acquisition francaise 16251, fol. 20v |
_c.1250-1300_KB%2B76%2BG%2B17%2C%2Bfol.1v.jpg) |
| Annunciation From a Psalter French (Liege), ca, 1250-1300 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliothek MS KB 76 G 17, fol. 1v |
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| Jacobus Kokkinobaphi, Annunciation From Orationes encomiasticae in SS. Virginem Deiparam Byzantine, First half of the 12th Century Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Grec 1208, fol. 160v
The absence of any sign of a dove in this twelfth Century Byzantine image shows that the questions about the mode of the Incarnation that obsessed the Western Church were unimportant in the East.
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| Pietro Cavallini, Annunciation Italian, 1296-1300 Rome, Santa Maria in Trastevere
This Cavallini mosaic and the contemporary image by Torriti show that, even in the highly Byzantinized world of Roman mosaic work, the Western questions applied and the dove appeared.
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| Jacopo Torriti, Annunciation Italian, 1296-1300 Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore |
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| Duccio, Annunciation Italian, 1308-1311 London, National Gallery |
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| Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Annunciation Italian, 1344 Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale |
In the earliest images that include the Dove it can
frequently be seen close to Mary’s head, or more specifically to her ear,
for it was thought that one of the means by which the Incarnation occurred was
through her ear. The idea comes from the
idea that Jesus as the Word of God would be able to penetrate through the ear,
the organ of hearing. This fairly
primitive, highly material idea was ultimately abandoned and the Dove of the Spirit
began to hover more generally, as a more reasonable interpretation of the idea raised by the word "overshadow" from Gabriel's reply to Mary's very reasonable question.
_1348_BNF_Francais%2B241%2C%2Bfol.%2B31v.jpg) |
| Richard de Montbaston, Annunciation From Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine French (Paris), 1348 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 241, fol. 31v |
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| Lorenzo Ghiberti, Annunciation Italian, 1403-1424 Florence, Cathedral Baptistry |
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| Hugo van der Goes, Annunciation Exterior wings of the Portinari Altarpiece Flemish, 1476-1479 Florence, Uffizi Gallery |
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| Veit Stoss, Annunciation German, 1517-1518 Nuremberg, St. Lorenzkirche |
As time passed the dove, which had initially been just a
dove, begins to be surrounded by bright light, may even be replaced by light
alone. It is from these images that the
next significant developments in Annunciation iconography spring.
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| Andrea del Sarto, Annunciation Italian, ca. 1528 Florence, Galleria Palatina, Pitti Palace |
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| Titian, Annunciation Italian, 1562-1564 Venice, Church of San Salvador |
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| El Greco, Annunciation Greco-Spanish, 1596-1600 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Peter Paul Rubens, Annunciation Flemish, 1609-1610 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum |
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| Hendrick Terbruggen, Annunciation Dutch, 1624-1625 Private Collection |
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| Nicholas Poussin, Annunciation French, 1657 London, National Gallery |
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| Bartolome Murillo, Annunciation Spanish, 1660-1665 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Annunciation Italian, 1724-1725 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Giambattista Pittoni, Annunciation Italian, 1758 Venice, Galleria dell'Accademia |
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| Franz Ignaz Gunther, Annunciation German, 1759-1763 Private Collection |
© M. Duffy, 2014
1. 1. For a detailed description of the history of
this question and the ways in which it was answered up to the fifteenth century
see the twined articles:
·
Steinberg, Leo.
“How Shall This Be?” Reflections on Filippo Lippi’s “Annunciation” in
London, Part I in Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 8, No. 16, 1987, pp. 25-44
and
·
Edgerton, Samuel Y. , Jr. “How Shall This Be?”
Reflections on Fiippo Lippi’s “Annunciation” in London, Part II in Artibus
et Historiae, Vol. 8, No. 16, 1987, pp. 45-53.
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