The Annunciation

Opaque glass mosaic, designed by William Blake Richmond, executed by Messrs Powell of Whitefriars between 1896 and 1904

The Annunciation is deliberately positioned opposite The Temptation (mosaic no. 8644). As a group, the four mosaics over the western arches of the quire connect Old and New Testament, from the Creation of the Firmament at the Beginning of the Book of Genesis to the Annunciation which is narrated in the first chapters of the Gospel according to Luke and Matthew.

The cartoon for the figure of the Virgin Mary is preserved as part of the Cathedral Collection, and is among the best preserved of the group. The comparison between mosaic and cartoon shows how closely the makers could follow William Blake Richmond’s cartoon (no. 831): areas such as veil and halo are given in the painted cartoon prescribing the andamento (flow or line) of the laid tesserae.

Brief description: mosaic spanning the wall space between arches and clerestory with two distinct spandrel areas, the central low part depicting a the semicircle of the sun with rays and inscribed “ECCE ANCILLA DOMINI FIAT MIHI SECUNDUM VERUM TUUM”, lower left inscribed “GABRIEL ANGELVUS [against a red background, the remainder of the inscription against a golden background] / ECCE CONCIPIES IN VTERO ET PARIES FILIVM”, the lower right inscribed “SS. MARIA VIRGO [against a red background, the remainder of the inscription against a golden background] / NE TIMEAS INVENISTI ENIM GRATIAM APVD DEVM”; the last words of both inscriptions fragmented

Related quotes:
Luke 1:38: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (NSRV)
Browne 1896, p. p. 4: “In the two years from Easter 1894 to Easter 1896 the other parts of the Choir have been decorated, down to the cornice.” [Browne does not describe these in further detail.], ibd., p. 10: “The spandrels of the middle bay will have on the north side Adam and Eve when expelled from Paradise, and on the south side the Annunciation.”

Annunciation mosaics elsewhere: Saint Mark’s Basilica, Venice, Italy; Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, Italy; Chora Church, Istanbul, Turkey; Santa Cecilia, Trastevere, Rome; Poreç Cathedral, Croatia
19th century: Nuestra Senora Reina, Los Angeles/CA, USA; Lourdes, France; St. Maria am Gestade, Vienna, Austria; after Ghirlandaio, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy; after designs by Edward Burne-Jones, San Paolo; Salviati, poss. after a design by Henry Clutton, Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, London