St. Anne

Mid-12th century
Mosaic
Church of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio ("The Martorana"), Palermo, Sicily

An Annunciation with Mary's hands palm-out and her blue mantle over a red robe

St. Anne is identified by the inscription in Greek. The meaning of a gesture with two palms out depends on context. In early Annunciations it signifies Mary's acceptance of her role; in other images it will register some sort of refusal on the part of a martyr or other saint. Here the intention may be to suggest Anne's participation in her daughter's divine mission.

The blue robe under a gold mantle with red modeling is another way of assimilating Anne's image to that of Mary, whose robe and mantle are conventionally pictured as blue and red or vice-versa.

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