The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner, American, 1859 – 1937 Oil on canvas, 57×71 ¼” Philadelphia Museum of Art
Tanner was the son of a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He often painted religious subjects. This unconventional image of the moment the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God is beautiful in its simplicity. Mary is pictured as an adolescent dressed in rumpled Middle Eastern peasant clothing. No halo or other visual signs of holiness are present. Yet the spiritual component to the composition is undeniable. This is the moment of Mary’s at fiat or “yes” to her new reality. The Angel Gabriel appears as a shaft of light, light representing God’s glory, the message of good news and HOPE.
In prayer discuss these Reflection Questions with God.