Getty Museum

The Annunciation

Date

probably 1170s

Medium

Tempera colors, gold leaf, silver leaf, and ink

Culture

German

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

In the center of a complex architectural structure that represents the House of Wisdom and the heavenly city of God, the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will bear the son of God. The Virgin holds up a scroll inscribed with her verbal response: *Ecce ancilla d[omi]ni fiat m[ihi] s[e]c[un]d[u]m v[er]b[um] t[uum]* (Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word). Above them in the center stands Aaron, Moses' brother and the first high priest of the Israelites, flanked on the left by King David and on the right by the apostle Paul. The Annunciation is the third and last miniature in a sequence devoted to the theme of the wisdom of God's plan for humanity. It faces the beginning of the section of the manuscript that contains the chants sung by the choir at Mass.

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