Bible in art · Luke

Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Annunciation (recto)

Unknown Flemish painter · 1470s
The Cleveland Museum of Art

A leaf from a book of hours made in Flanders, perhaps Ghent, in the 1470s. Such pages opened the prayers of Matins; this one has lost much of its colour.

Gabriel kneels at the left with a sceptre; Mary turns from her book at a red desk. A scroll curls between them, and small figures climb through the vine border.

From the text

The angel greets Mary (Luke 1:28)
“I am the Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:38)

The artist’s own

Mary reading at a desk, a habit of painters of the time
A Flemish room with tall windows

Details

Gabriel

The angel kneels with green wings.

Mary

She turns from her book in a blue mantle.

The scroll

A banner curls up between them.

The border

Little figures among the vines.

Unknown illuminator, Flanders, Ghent (?), 15th century. The Cleveland Museum of Art (The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection, 2014.24.a) · ink, tempera and gold on vellum · Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: Collection API record "share_license_status": "CC0" (Creative Commons Zero, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).

The verses

Luke 1:26–38In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. So the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!” “How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Look, even Elizabeth your relative has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.

See it at the museum’s site