{"id":69194,"date":"2025-02-03T01:14:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T06:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=69194"},"modified":"2025-01-22T08:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T13:27:16","slug":"the-annunciation-by-henry-tanner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/02\/03\/the-annunciation-by-henry-tanner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Annunciation– by Henry Tanner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Art can often convey so much more about a Biblical story than mere words.\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019ve just been introduced to this painting by an artist who painted in the late 19th and early 20th century\u2013\u00a0 Henry Tanner (d. 1937).\u00a0 \u00a0Tanner it is clear wanted to depict a young Mary, surprised or even shocked when the angel came and hailed her and told her the shocking story of what was going to happen to her, provided she agreed to do God\u2019s will.\u00a0 \u00a0There is commentary about this painting in the wonderful BBC series done several years ago by the Scottish artist Lachlan Goudie, the son of an artist who did paintings of Christ\u2019s crucifixion.\u00a0 Goudie took a trip to Israel to paint the Gospel scenes.\u00a0 Here is the link to the second part of his BBC series about art and the Gospel story. It\u2019s wonderfully done.<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nAnd here is the painting itself\u2014-<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/01\/61OAXnrWXL._AC_SL1000_-scaled.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-69197\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/01\/61OAXnrWXL._AC_SL1000_-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"621\"><\/a><\/p>\nThe look on Mary\u2019s face is priceless, as if she\u2019s asking, are you sure you\u2019ve got the right Mary?\u00a0 And I like that the angel is depicted as a vision of light, rather than a winged creature (see Mike Heiser\u2019s book Angels,<\/em> in regard to whether angels were the same thing as cherubim or seraphim who had wings\u2013Isaiah 6).\u00a0 This girl in the painting is about the right age for teenaged Mary.\u00a0 \u00a0 Obviously the annunciation was a private event, which Mary must have told Joseph, and presumably Jesus about at some point, otherwise we would not have Luke\u2019s story about this world changing event.\u00a0 I\u2019ve suggested that during Luke\u2019s two year stay with Paul in Caesarea Maritima he would have had time to go and interview some members of the Jerusalem church, and perhaps Mary herself.\u00a0 In any case, this painting captures the moment of encounter beautifully.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Art can often convey so much more about a Biblical story than mere words.\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019ve just been introduced to this painting by an artist who painted in the late 19th and early 20th century\u2013\u00a0 Henry Tanner (d. 1937).\u00a0 \u00a0Tanner it is clear wanted to depict a young Mary, surprised or even shocked when the angel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":69197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15221],"class_list":["post-69194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-greetings-mary-highly-favored-by-god"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>The Annunciation-- by Henry Tanner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Art can often convey so much more about a Biblical story than mere words.\u00a0 \u00a0I've just been introduced to this painting by an artist who painted in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Annunciation-- by Henry Tanner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Art can often convey so much more about a 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