The Annunciation
by Arthur Hughes

We love Annunciation pictures! This is one of the most gorgeous we've seen. We love the colors. Our eye keeps going over them and the things in the painting. The angel is ethereal and dreamlike. He's not even touching the ground. He is outside. Mary is within. This is the precise moment of the meeting of Heaven and Earth, when Mary is saying Yes to Gabriel, and our Salvation has come into the world.

We love the slight variations of the theme: The Holy Spirit isn't a flesh and bones dove. Gabriel isn't holding the lily; it is growing at his feet. Mary isn't reading; she is knitting. She isn't wearing a blue dress; she is wearing a lavender one, but it has a blue sash. It's a great expression on her face, too. She is pondering, not quite afraid, as any of us would be meeting a great angel, and almost but not quite shocked. A young woman knitting in her parent's house on a quiet afternoon has suddenly become pregnant with the Savior of the world.

For us, this picture is a meditation on that moment.

Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) was a Pre-Raphaelite painter who started showing paintings at the National Gallery in London at age 17. He had a long successful career of painting and illustrating for the next 65 years.

** IMPORTANT ** IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER!!
There is a white border around the image. About 0.5" for 5x7, 1.3" for 8.5x11", 1.6" for 11x17", and 1.75" for 13x17", so the image is smaller than the paper!!!

- Acid-free fine art paper.
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - Classic Catholic Art.