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| The Annunciation oil on linen, 32 x 24 Copyright 2019 Peter Bougie |
The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is related in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, in twelve verses, 26 – 38. The angel Gabriel, sent from God, appears and offers the salutation “Hail, full of grace” (“to whom grace is given, favored one”).[1] “The Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled and did not know what the appearance of the angel or his greeting meant. The angel announces that she has been chosen to conceive and bear a son who will be named Jesus, and that he shall be great and called “Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32). She is astonished, and asks “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” (Luke 1: 34) Gabriel reassures her that the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon her and that the power of the Most High will overshadow her; conception will not take place by ordinary means. He notes a connection to another miraculous event, that Mary’s elder cousin Elizabeth has also conceived a son and is in her sixth month. Then Mary consents, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.” The Catholic Encyclopedia provides a succinct summary of this moment: “Mary may not yet have fully understood the meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with her vow of virginity, but clinging to the first words of the angel and trusting to the Omnipotence of God”[2] she consented.
In this painting I have endeavored to show the moment of Mary’s meeting with
Gabriel. She has raised her head from her book and turned it to look at him.
She is in the process of understanding what he is saying. Her hand lingering
over the vicinity of her heart indicates the intimacy of her devotion to the
Lord, and also her effort to grasp what is being told her. That it is suspended
there, for a moment, indicates that an effort of her will was required in her
choice. The book is the single prop I have chosen to include, and it represents
Jesus “the Word” (John, 1:1). Mary is our model of humility and consent to God’s
will. Years later, at the wedding in Cana, she tells the serving people to do
whatever Jesus tells them to do, in regard to the water and the wine. This
remark is recorded because we are meant to understand that she always points
the way to Jesus.
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| Study for The Annunciation Charcoal and chalk Copyright 2019 Peter Bougie |
Thanks to Joan T., for making the veil, the robe and the sash for my model to wear;
and thanks to my model, Katie D., who posed well and diligently for many hours
in the veil and the robe for this project. By way of consolation, and
distraction from the tedium of posing and of me, she had the music of Palestrina,
Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart, among others.
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