A face in a burst of fine blue-white lines, with folded wings below.
Bible in art · Luke
The Annunciation (L'annonciation)
James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Tissot set the visit of Gabriel in a simple room: a woven mat on the floor, a reed screen with a chequered pattern along the wall, a red cushion. He painted the series in opaque watercolour on small sheets of grey paper.
Mary kneels in a long white veil that spills over the floor, her head bowed. The angel is not a figure with a body but a blue-white glow of fine lines at the left, with a face at its centre.
From the text
- The angel Gabriel is sent to Nazareth, to Mary (Luke 1:26–27)
- “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28)
- Mary is greatly troubled at his words (Luke 1:29)
The artist’s own
- The angel drawn as rays of light around a face
- A plain village room with mats and cushions
Details
Gabriel
Mary
She kneels wrapped in white, her face hidden under the veil.
The cushion
A red cushion lies on the patterned mat.
The wall
A screen of woven reeds in a chequered pattern.
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.16) · Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper · Brooklyn Museum (Commons file page, «Permission»): "This image was uploaded by the Brooklyn Museum as a content partnership, and is considered to have no known copyright restrictions by the institutions of the Brooklyn Museum." — "No known copyright restrictions".