Institution of the Rosary Window: Detail, the Annunciation

Second half of the 20th century
Stained glass
Frauenkirche, Munich, Germany

This image quotes from pre-modern Annunciations even within the reductive style of midcentury religious art. The dove arrives at Mary's forehead. Her gesture recalls medieval iconography, where she expresses humility by holding both hands forth, palm out. The book-stand also quotes late medieval works. In the Renaissance it morphed into a prie-dieu at which the angel found Mary kneeling. Posed in the middle of the image, the stand also functions like the architectural elements that separated the figures in medieval and later works.

The words on the angel's banderole are the usual AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA, "Hail Mary, full of grace" (Luke 1:28) On the book, as if she had learned them from her study of scripture, are the words ECCE ANCILLA, "Behold the handmaid [of the Lord]" (Luke 1:38).

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.