The Annunciation
Virgil Solis, 1565 · Luke 1:28
The passage
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Luke 1:28
About this woodcut
An interior with a tiled floor and a heavy curtain drawn back. Gabriel comes in from the left in mid-stride, wings up, a stem of lilies in his hand. Mary is seated at the right with a book open on her lap and her head turned. Between them, in a burst of rays, the dove comes down. A vase of lilies stands on the floor in the middle.
The two lilies are the point. One is carried in and one is already standing in the room, which is Solis quietly saying the visit did not bring the purity, it found it. Mary is reading when he arrives, and she does not get up.
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