Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the card beside it, so can't remember the name of the artist.
It is, of course, a depiction of The Annunciation. The thing that got me was the expression on Mary's face, and her body language. No religious ecstacy, here. A somewhat skeptical expression, I think, and a dawning fear that, if true, this is not going to be pretty.
Somebody looking at the situation from Mary's point of view.
Ronni:
ReplyDeleteIt is painted by an American artist, Tanner. Here is the blurb on the painting:
Tanner painted The Annunciation soon after returning to Paris from a trip to Egypt and Palestine in 1897. The son of a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Tanner specialized in religious subjects, and wanted to experience the people, culture, architecture, and light of the Holy Land. Influenced by what he saw, Tanner created an unconventional image of the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God. Mary is shown as an adolescent dressed in rumpled Middle Eastern peasant clothing, without a halo or other holy attributes. Gabriel appears only as a shaft of light. Tanner entered this painting in the 1898 Paris Salon exhibition, after which it was bought for the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1899, making it his first work to enter an American museum.
"Tanner created an unconventional image of the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God."
ReplyDelete~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not to be disrespectful, but Mary's expression seems to say, "You're sh*tting me, right?"
I know that's what MY reaction would have been!
LOL@ Nadine! I kinda thought that too!
ReplyDeletenice pic Ronni
Thank you, Susan!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I remember to take pictures of the cards mounted next to the paintings, but this time, I totally forgot.
I see a certain element of disbelief in Mary's expression, yes.
ReplyDeleteActually, very few Annunciation Marys look very pleased with their fate:
ReplyDeleteCestello Annunciation (Botticelli)-- Back! Back!
http://tinyurl.com/69y433
James Christensen - The Annunciation (looks almost like she's in an insane asylum) http://tinyurl.com/5zylwd
John William Waterhouse "Oh, Crikies" http://tinyurl.com/5vnzfu
But the 'best' for sheer 'oh, Joy, oh RUPTURE' are Simone Martini (1300s):
http://tinyurl.com/5t5m6n
and the best:
http://tinyurl.com/6afwrx
detail
http://tinyurl.com/5nvb6e
First time I saw this, someone with me said, drolly, "You lay out a nice picnic and, next thing you know, the flying pests appear."