Description

A finely painted icon of the Annunciation to the Mother of God.

On this icon of the Annunciation, the archangel Gabriel appears no less than four times! In the top left he receives the order of God to descend to earth and to bring the message of good cheer to the virgin Mary. Through the building Gabriel can be spotted flying above Mary in the garden. In the lower left corner of the icon, the archangel has landed. Astonished by the beauty of the young Mary, he looks away before he steps forward to tell Mary that she will bear the son of God. At that moment, the Holy Spirit, in the shape of a white dove, reaches Mary.
The Annunciation to the Mother of God is one of the twelve great feasts and is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on March 25. The iconography of the Annunciation is based on the stories from the Gospel of Luke and the proto gospel of James. The latter is a text from the middle of the 2nd century. It has not become part of the Bible but has nevertheless proved to be a source of inspiration for icons of the Mother of God. In the proto gospel of James, it is said that the announcement to Mary does not take place at her home, but in the temple of Jerusalem, Mary sits in front of the temple when Gabriel brings her the good news.
This icon is shown in a short film on YouTube (in Dutch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u_8zutepGM