The Icon of the Annunciation

The Icon of the Annunciation in St Catherine’s Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai, is a Byzantine masterpiece from the end of the twelfth century, painted in the mannerist style that characterizes the art of the late Comnenian period. It is the result of iconographic and stylistic innovations—largely influenced by patristic texts and major changes in the Byzantine liturgy—in Byzantine painting during the twelfth century.

The archangel Gabriel is rendered in an elegant and mannerist style, with his large wings spread out, striding towards the Virgin. The dynamic and unstable figure of Gabriel contrasts with the seated posture and passivity of the Virgin who, engaged in her needlework, is turning to look at him in a questioning way. There are many images of a nimble Gabriel in the art of the period. His brisk walking pace gives the scene a slight imbalance, and emphasizes the disparity between the angel’s universe and that of Mary. It is in keeping with the period’s penchant for a vigorous and elegant style, which combines expressiveness of sentiment with a subtle technique. This is also found in the work of the Byzantine writers, who, from the eighth century onwards, had referred to the angel’s hesitancy about visiting Mary in their liturgical hymns and sermons.

There are rich architectural decorations in the background: several buildings depict Mary’s house, the Basilica of Nazareth, and even the city of Nazareth. The presence of the ‘enclosed garden’ represented on the balcony of the building behind the Virgin’s throne is probably a reference to the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs 4:12), which is associated with the garden, and Mary’s Virginity. The presence of vegetal and aquatic elements in the foreground of the composition emphasizes the high level of the inspiration behind the metaphors used in the patristic texts. In fact, after 560, when Justinian I established the celebration of the Annunciation on 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation’s association with spring encouraged Byzantine writers to use metaphors inspired by the season in their homilies on the Annunciation. Most of these writers continually draw parallels between the Feast of the Annunciation and nature as a symbol of fertility. They use flowers, a fertile paradise, or even the fountain of life gushing forth from a rock as metaphors for the Virgin. The most remarkable example of this type of metaphor is the Akathist Hymn[1], in which the poet uses a long series of allegorical images to repeatedly pay tribute to the Virgin.

The idea of the miraculous Conception of Christ and his Incarnation is also evoked in another iconographic detail which, although barely visible, is of major importance. This is the naked Baby Jesus, surrounded by a mandorla, and rendered in grisaille next to the Virgin’s bust. The Virgin is touching the ‘embryo’s’ shoulder with the same hand that is holding the thread from her needlework. Held in this way, the purple thread with which the Virgin is supposed to be weaving the Veil of the Temple (Gospel of James) that is linked to Baby Jesus, evokes the umbilical cord that links the child to his mother. These iconographic details emphasize the immediacy of the conception and make the idea of the Incarnation more explicit. However, also noteworthy is the desire to represent the theophanic nature of the scene through the presence of the dove, inscribed in a luminous disc, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit.

Often considered to be a Constantinopolitan work, this icon was probably produced in St Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai.