The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner (Interpretation and Analysis)

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The Annunciation
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Annunciation has been a common theme in Christian art for thousands of years; it refers to the biblical scene in which the Archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will conceive the son of God. Western artists have traditionally portrayed the Annunciation as a contemporary scene, dressing the Madonna in the fashionable clothes of the time and surrounding her with Western luxury items (Robert Campin’s Annunciation is a good example of this style). 

While these artists invested the Virgin with the trappings of a European noblewoman, American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner took a different approach in his 1898 version of the Annunciation. According to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Tanner created his Annunciation after traveling to Egypt and Palestine to visit the real-life settings of the biblical scenes he so often portrayed. The Annunciation reflects this influence. Here, we see the Virgin Mary as a Middle Eastern teenager in a wrinkled robe. Her face betrays the vulnerability of youth, as opposed to the calm serenity that usually characterizes the Virgin in art. Her surroundings are plain and inauspicious, her bedroom bare of any decoration aside from earthenware jugs and a simple wall-hanging.

The painting is unusual in both its simplicity and its lack of religious iconography. In Tanner’s Annunciation Mary has none of her traditional symbols or markers of holiness, and even Gabriel is stripped of his angelic glory, portrayed only as a beam of light. This unconventional approach makes the painting both unique and extremely moving. Tanner’s commitment to realism humanizes the biblical scene of the Annunciation. His painting strips away the exaggeration and romanticism of earlier eras, leaving a substantial core of spiritual truth and authenticity.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.

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