The Annunciation

This is the right-hand panel of a pair of paintings depicting the Annunciation, the moment at which the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will bear the son of God. The story appears in the Gospel of St Luke, part of the New Testament of the Bible.

The paintings are the outer wings of a devotional triptych (a three-panel painting) but the central panel is now lost. The triptych was commissioned either by or for George Fascet, Abbot of Westminster from 1498-1500, and was probably intended as an altarpiece. As Fascet died in 1500, it may well have been commissioned as a memorial to him.

In this painting, Mary is standing on a stone plinth bearing, in this case, Abbott Fascet’s coat of arms. She is wearing a red cloak edged with gold. Beneath this she has on a high-neckline, dark blue-green gown of a style commonly worn by young women in Flanders, France and England around 1500. The gown’s cuffs are turned back to reveal the white fur lining, which also appears at the hem of the skirt and along the scalloped neckline. Her kirtle and chemise are visible above the gown’s neckline. On her feet are black leather shoes and wooden pattens. Next to her is a vase containing a lily, the symbol of purity and an emblem of both the Virgin Mary and the Annunciation.