"Ave Maria, Gratia Plena": four of my favourite Annunciations
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, one of the most important celebrations in the liturgical calendar and the subject of some of my very favourite paintings. Though certainly more ancient, the solemnity is first mentioned at the Council of Toledo in 656. In 692 the Quinisext Council held at Constantinople emphasised the importance of the observance when it specified that no feast days should be celebrated during Lent with the exception of Sundays and the Annunciation.
The celebration of the Annunciation on 25 March is close to the spring equinox. The early third century De Pascha Computus (on the calculation of Easter), states that the coming of Jesus and his death coincided with the Creation and the Fall of Adam. As the world was created in spring the corollary is that Christ was also conceived and died soon after the spring equinox. Written in the thirteenth century, Jacopo da Voragine’s Golden Legend reiterates the importance of the date not only as the date of the Creation and the Annunciation, but also of the Crucifixion.
Such is the importance of the solemnity that if, as happened last year, the Annunciation falls within Holy Week it is shifted to the Monday after the second Sunday of Easter and thus last year was celebrated on 8 April.
My absolute favourite Annunciation is now in the Uffizi in Florence. It was painted by Simone Martini with Lippo Memmi for the altar of St Asanus at Siena Cathedral and is signed by both artists and dated 1333. The first time I saw it, quite to my surprise, I burst into tears. As if it had matched the resonance frequency of my soul. It’s quite simply one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
For the occasion here are three of my favourite Roman Annunciations.
I love the one by Fra Angelico in San Marco in Firenze. Can’t quite remember it is in a cell or above the stairs but I love the idea that a monk had it to contemplate for a lifetime.
Thank you Agnes: I love Annunciations in general and was stopped in my tracks when I saw the Simone Martini too. I sort of ‘collect’ Annunciations where Gabriel enters the Virgin’s space from the right: not too common. Is there a convention that you are aware of?
Anne-Lucie Norton