Angelic Salutation PDF

The Angelic Salutation in Early Byzantine and Medieval Annunciation Imagery
Author(s): Ann van Dijk

Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 81, No. 3 (Sep., 1999), pp. 420-436
Published by: College Art Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3051350
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The Angelic Salutation in Early Byzantine and Medieval

Annunciation Imagery
Ann van Dijk
Of the innumerable images of the Annunciation created
during the Middle Ages, perhaps the most arresting is the
panel Simone Martini painted in 1333 for the altar of St.
narrative level, it records the angel's initial words of greeting

to the Virgin Mary and the cause of her represented disquiet
Ansanus in the cathedral of Siena (Fig. 1).1 The composition

of the central panel is deceptively simple, following a common late medieval convention of Annunciation iconography:
the angel Gabriel kneels on the left, delivering his extraordinary message to the Virgin Mary, seated on the right.2 The
(Luke 1:28-29):
intense gold of the background bathes both figures in the

same unearthly light, but otherwise the contrast between
them is extreme. Humbly kneeling, the figure of Gabriel
nonetheless dominates the image, his wings powerfully raised
and his cloak flapping in a supernatural wind. Clothed in

gold, the body of this celestial apparition seems to dissolve
into the background, visually expressing its angelic composition of fire and spirit.3 The words of Gabriel's message are
inscribed along the borders of his garment, but the opening
salutation, "Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum" (Hail, full of

grace, the Lord is with thee; Luke 1:28), projects straight from
his mouth, describing an oblique path directly toward its

object, the Virgin Mary.
In marked contrast to the angel's radiance, Mary is somberly dressed in dark blue and red, relieved only by the gold
border of her garment. The gold lines trace a sinuous path
that echoes Mary's twisting posture as she seems to recoil
from the angel's greeting as though from a physical object.
Indeed, raised in relief from the background, the angel's
words float mysteriously on the painted surface with an actual
physicality appropriate to the weightiness of their import:
they announce the Lord's incarnation.
Beyond the sheer power of its visual impact on viewers,

Simone Martini's Annunciation is a remarkable altarpiece in a
number of ways.4 Although commissioned to decorate the

altar of a saint, the altarpiece relegates the image of Saint
Ansanus to one of the side panels, devoting the large central
panel to the Virgin Mary, Siena's patron protectress. Moreover, the Annunciation is among the first altarpieces to give
pride of place to a narrative scene, replacing the Madonna

and Child traditional to Sienese altarpieces with the representation of an event from the Virgin's life. Despite the narrative
subject matter, however, Simone Martini's Annunciation is a
devotional image. The artist achieved this end using various
means: by suppressing detail, especially of setting, and by

isolating the figures against the luminous gold background.
Less immediately evident but equally important is the role of
the inscription emerging from the angel's mouth.
as described in the biblical account of the Annunciation
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of
grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among

women.
Who having heard, was troubled at this saying, and

thought with herself what manner of salutation this
should be.
Moreover, both the choice of words for the inscription-that

is, limited to the angel's precise words of greeting--and their
placement along a line projecting straight from Gabriel's

mouth emphasize the fact that the written text represents
speech made visible.7 This gives the image a sense of imme-
diacy, as though the encounter between the angel and the

Virgin were unfolding before our very eyes.
At the same time, the inscription characterizes the person

to whom it is directed, the Virgin Mary. Indicating her exalted
rank in general, it also makes specific reference to her

imminent status as mother of God; medieval theologians
traditionally interpreted the words "full of grace" and "the
Lord is with you" in terms of the Incarnation.8 Along with
Gabriel's kneeling pose, therefore, the inscription serves to
counterbalance the humility expressed in Mary's shrinking
posture, asserting her claim to the viewer's devotion through
her role as mother of God.
By the time Simone Martini painted this altarpiece, however, the words of Gabriel's salutation were associated in the
minds of viewers not only with the biblical events surrounding
the birth of Christ but also with the prayer that had adopted
them as its opening phrase, the Ave Maria. The history of the
prayer's evolution is long and complex, but in the fourteenth
century it generally consisted only of the angelic salutation
coupled with the words spoken by Elizabeth at the Visitation

(Luke 1:42), with Mary's name interjected after the opening
"Ave" and Jesus' name appended at the very end: "Hail Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."' In the
fourteenth century, the Ave Maria was immensely popular,
and its recitation formed part of the daily devotions of the
religious and laity alike. The prayer's popularity in this period
was due in part to its inclusion in the Little Office of the

Blessed Virgin Mary (also known as the Hours of the Vir-
As far as text is concerned, the inscription is far from

unique; images of the Annunciation inscribed with the
gin).10 This office was chanted daily by priests, monks, and

nuns as a supplement to the Divine Office, and it formed the
angelic salutation are common in high and late medieval art.5

But this fact should not blind viewers to the words' exceptional significance. Within the image, the inscription serves a
number of different functions simultaneously.6 On a purely
book among the laity during the later Middle Ages. In part
the prayer's popularity was due to the institution of other
nucleus of the Book of Hours, the most popular devotional
devotional practices around it, such as the Angelus, the
THE ANGELIC SALUTATION 421
/*
K",
1 Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciation (St. Ansanus Altarpiece), 1333. Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi
(photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)
custom of reciting the Ave Maria three times at the sound of
ever, only when reading the inscription in Simone Martini's
the evening bell.11 The Angelus was especially promoted by

the Franciscan order from the mid-thirteenth century on, and
painting aloud is the viewer able to participate fully in the

devotional experience it offers, because only through reading
the inscription aloud do viewers utter the words, "Hail, full of
in 1327 Pope John XXII attached an indulgence to the

practice.
Thus, for viewers of Simone Martini's Annunciation, in

addition to its other meanings, the inscription read as a
familiar prayer to the Virgin.12 This fact is crucial to under-
grace, the Lord is with thee," thus adopting the angel's

salutation as their own. And in so doing, their eyes are led by
the words themselves to the seated figure of the Virgin, the
object of their angelically inspired prayer.
standing the image's devotional character, for when taken

into account, the angel's kneeling posture and the words
emanating from his mouth become a model of devotional
The capacity of Annunciation images inscribed in this way

to elicit a mimetic devotional response from viewers makes it a
practice for viewers to imitate. The emphasis on vocalizing the
specific devotional context of the Book of Hours. As is well

known, Books of Hours are commonly illustrated, and their
illustrations generally follow a set pattern.14 The Annuncia-
words of the angelic salutation that is a result of their
particular placement within the image thus serves two purposes; not only does it give the image a sense of immediacy,
but it also encourages viewers themselves to say the words
aloud. The latter is especially significant because of changes
in reading practices that were occurring around the time this
image was painted. Whereas reading had been almost exclusively an oral activity until the eleventh century, between the
thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries, silent reading, and
with it silent praying, became increasingly habitual.13 How-
particularly appropriate image to appear within the more
tion is one of a cycle of eight narrative images illustrating

events from the life of Mary that customarily preface the
individual Hours (Matins, Lauds, Prime, and so on) of the

Little Office of the Virgin.15 The Annunciation illustrates
Matins, the first Hour, and the image is frequently inscribed.
One very famous example, closely contemporary with

Simone Martini's altarpiece, occurs in the Book of Hours of
Jeanne d'Evreux (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
422 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 1999 VOLUME I.XXXI NUMBER 3
In some manuscripts, the inclusion of a representation of

the book's owner in or near the inscribed Annunciation
reinforces this aspect of the image's function.17 In the Hours
I:
'-
ofJeanne d'Evreux, for example,Jeanne herself kneels inside

the initial below the Annunciation, one of only two instances
that she appears in the manuscript.'8 Holding an open book
before her, she is evidently engaged in her devotions. Both
her placement and her pose, however, visually assimilate her
to the angel Gabriel, who kneels directly above, holding his
scroll. The small figure in the initial is thus depicted following
the cue provided by the inscribed Annunciation image and

modeling her devotions after the pattern set by the angel,
which in turn would have encouraged the book's owner, the
realJeanne d'Evreux, to do the same.19
A curious feature of the relationship between text and

image in the vast majority of manuscripts containing the
Hours of the Virgin is that whereas the inscribed image
prompts users with the opening words of the Ave Maria
prayer, the text of the office gives them no instruction to recite
the prayer at this precise point. In the Hours of Jeanne

d'Evreux, for example, the initialJeanne occupies is not an A
beginning the word Ave but a D standing at the head of the
phrase "Domine labia mea aperies" (Lord, open thou my

lips), the customary opening words of Matins. Matins does
indeed call for the recitation of the Ave Maria, but not until
later; the incipit instructing users to do so usually appears as

an invitatory to the first psalm and as a versicle after the
second lesson.20
2 Jean Pucelle, Hours ofJeanne d'Evreux, Annunciation,

1324-28. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The
Cloisters, ms 54.1.2, fol. 16r
the Cloisters, ms 54.1.2, fol. 16r), but there are countless
This differs from later, printed editions of the Hours of the

Virgin, where such instruction does appear at the beginning
of Matins, either in the form of the full text of the prayer or as
a rubric. The practice is standard in editions printed after

Pope Pius V reformed the Roman Breviary in 1568, but it
occurs in some earlier editions as well. One example is the
Book of Hours printed in Paris by Simon de Colines for
Geoffroy Tory in 1525 (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York,
others.16 This minute volume (3 1/2 by 2 7/16 inches),
PML 17588, fols. D3v-D4r, Fig. 3).21 Roger Wieck has sug-
illuminated by Jean Pucelle, was commissioned by Charles IV

of France between 1324 and 1328 as a gift for his new wife. As
in Simone Martini's Annunciation, the inscription in Pucelle's
illumination consists only of spoken words, here reduced to
just two, "Ave Maria," presumably for the sake of legibility
(Fig. 2). The fact that they are spoken words is emphasized
here as well, in this case not by their placement along a line
projecting from Gabriel's mouth but by their appearance on a
scroll that unfurls from his hand, a common medieval
gested that these later editions may reflect earlier practice,
convention for depicting speech. The emphasis is meaningful

here, too, because these words were indeed spoken, not only
historically by the angel but also actually by the book's owner
during her devotions; the Ave Maria forms part of the text of
and that reciting the Ave Maria before Matins-and indeed,

before each of the Hours of the Virgin-may have been a
common medieval custom as well; the prayer was too important not to figure prominently in the Little Office of the
Virgin, and a few manuscripts already carry the text at this
point.22 In those that do not, knowledge of both prayer and
custom may have been assumed.
The preceding discussion provides additional evidence for
the practice of reciting the prayer, at least at the beginning of
Matins, for in the absence of the prayer text, the inscribed

Annunciation had the potential to serve as a kind of pictorial
incipit for users. One final example provides perhaps the
Matins. Even more telling, the not unusual appearance of
clearest demonstration: the unusual Annunciation in a Book
"Maria" following "Ave" in the inscription on Gabriel's scroll

alters the salutation recorded in Luke, which does not include
of Hours in Baltimore (Walters Art Gallery ms W. 267), a

mid-fifteenth-century manuscript from Hainaut in southern
Mary's name, to bring it in line with the words of the prayer.
Belgium that is one of the rare manuscripts where the Ave
These features suggest that, like Simone Martini's altarpiece,

the inscribed Annunciation in Books of Hours served as a
Maria text itself appears at the beginning of Matins (Fig. 4).23

Here the image spreads across two facing folios, 13v and
kind of devotional cue for users, the inscription prompting

them with the opening words of the Ave Maria, and the image
14r. On the right folio, set within an elaborate frame of

foliage, the Virgin kneels inside a small chapel, her arms
itself revealing the prayer's angelic origins and historical
crossed in a gesture of humility, while the Holy Spirit in the

form of a dove, sent by God, pictured as a small bust in the
significance.
TIlE ANGELIC SALUTATION 423
HI ORAE, in laudemn bcatifs.lmper virginis

M A RI AE, fccundum confuetudinem cc \
Ad matut-munmVxe us.
ine labia mea aperies. W.E t
meum annunciabit laudi tui.
clcfia Rolnanx.
.Deus in adiutorifi mei intide
AVE GRATIA PLENA, DOMI%

NVS TECVM. BENEDICTA
.Diie ad adiuuidfi me feltina.
loria patri,& filio,& fpiritui fi
TV IN MVLIE RI BVS.
in principior , nunc, femper,
Oll.
D.iill:
3 Annunciation, from a Book of Hours printed by Simon de Colines for Geoffroy Tory, Paris, 1525. New York, Pierpont Morgan Library,
PML 17588, fols. D3v-D4r (photo: The Pierpont Morgan Library/Art Resource, NY)
upper left corner of the scene, flies toward her. Far less
conventional is the image on the facing left folio. As expected,
Gabriel appears bearing his inscribed scroll, but he stands

behind the figure of the book's owner represented in the
kneeling posture that the angel usually assumes in contemporary images of the Annunciation. Even more interesting are
Gabriel's gestures. With his right hand he touches the

woman's shoulder with what looks like a gesture of encouragement, while his left hand, holding the scroll, reaches in front
of her, as though offering her his words. The full text of the
prayer that begins with these words appears immediately
illustrate the transition between those manuscripts where the

inscribed image appears but not the prayer text (Fig. 2) and
the later printed editions, where the prayer text appears but
the inscription has disappeared from the image (Fig. 3).24

This sequence suggests that the well-attested custom of
prefacing Matins with an inscribed Annunciation image may
have had an important role to play in establishing the practice
of reciting the Ave Maria at the beginning of Matins. And this
in turn suggests that the image possessed the power not only
to encourage and aid devotion, but even to influence devotional practice.
below.
What is exceptional about this image, beyond its uncommon iconography, is the clarity with which it instructed the
book's owner in a kind of vicarious participation in the scene
represented. Text and image were clearly intended to work
together, prompting the owner to adopt the role of Gabriel in
the Annunciation and address the Virgin with the words of
the angelically inspired prayer at the start of her daily

devotions. Even more than that, the unusual juxtaposition of
inscribed image and prayer text in this manuscript appears to
The Origins of the Inscribed Annunciation's

Devotional Function
Images of the Annunciation inscribed with the angelic salutation are not solely a phenomenon of the later Middle Ages.
They have a long history that is inextricably entwined with the
development of the prayer itself. In the West, the history of
the image stretches back to an early eighth-century mosaic
decorating the oratory of Pope John VII (705-7) in old St.
424 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 1999 VOLUME LXXXI NUMBER 3
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4 Book of Hours, Annunciation with Kneeling Patroness, Belgium, mid-15th century. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery ms W. 267, fols.
13v-14r
Peter's, the earliest known direct ancestor of the images

discussed above.
This image no longer exists. The oratory was torn down in

the early seventeenth century along with the remains of the
church that housed it, and the Annunciation was not among
the fragments of decoration removed beforehand for preser-
vation.25 However, descriptions and drawings made at the

time of the chapel's destruction carefully document its
appearance (Fig. 5).26 The focus of the decoration was a large
mosaic panel, still surviving in part, showing the pope

offering a model of the oratory to a regal and majestic figure
of Mary with her arms raised in prayer (Fig. 6).27 Around this
image, further mosaics depicted the life of Christ, beginning
with the Annunciation and Visitation together in one panel in
the upper left corner and ending at the bottom right with
images of the Crucifixion, Anastasis, and Women at the Tomb
(Fig. 7).
garment, Mary raises her right hand to her chin following a

classical convention for expressing perplexity.29 To the left,
Gabriel is depicted striding toward the Virgin with one arm
and both wings outstretched, while to the far right, the

embracing figures of Mary and Elizabeth represent the
following scene of the Visitation.
Other than an explanatory note in Grimaldi's hand at the

bottom of the drawing indicating that it is a representation
"ex sacelloJoannis VII. in veteri Vaticana Basilica" (from the
chapel of John VII in the old Vatican Basilica), no words

appear in the image. This is characteristic of the Album
studies, which display no evidence that the scenes represented were inscribed in any way; the draftsman's primary
interest appears to have been the accurate documentation of
iconography. A number of inscriptions, however, appear in a
more summary sketch of the whole Christological cycle

illustrating Grimaldi's own writings about the oratory (Fig.
The best visual record of the Annunciation from the
oratory of John VII is one of a number of large, detailed

studies of individual mosaic panels commissioned by Giacomo Grimaldi and now kept in a volume of drawings known
as the Album (Fig. 8).28 The drawing shows Mary enthroned
in the center of the composition, her body frontal but her
head turned slightly to watch the approaching figure of the
angel. Her left hand in her lap, clutching the fabric of her
7).30 Although less valuable as a record of the mosaics'

appearance in some respects, this sketch is probably more
accurate than the Album drawings in its transcription of the
inscriptions originally accompanying the images. Grimaldi

was a careful scholar, and there is almost no evidence of
gratuitous invention in any part of his documentation of the

oratory.31 This is especially true where inscriptions are con-
cerned, as can be demonstrated when Grimaldi's transcrip-
S acelltm Ioan-nis.Papac . 6eptnll in Ryoip ec- u,

?
ii
"
.1, ,
??
m
5 Giacomo Grimaldi,
general view of the
oratory of Pope John
VII, 1620. Vatican,
A-0 - -------.t.. i,
Biblioteca Apostolica ms
,,a
Barb. lat. 2733, fols.
94v-95r
tions are set beside the two surviving epigraphic inscriptions

from the oratory, one from John VII's sarcophagus and the
other recording the translation of relics into the chapel

during the pontificate of Hadrian I.32 In the case of the
mosaic inscriptions, such a demonstration is not possible;
however, compelling evidence for their existence is provided
by the appearance of inscriptions almost identical to those

Grimaldi recorded in the sketch of the oratory's Christological cycle among the frescoes John VII commissioned in S.
Maria Antiqua, frescoes Grimaldi certainly could not have
been aware of since at the time the church still lay buried
beneath the Roman Forum.33 The inscriptions that Grimaldi
later painting, or in a curling banderole, as in the manuscripts, the words here begin with a cross positioned immediately to the right of Gabriel's gesturing hand and continue in
several horizontal lines of text that occupy all the available

space between the two figures. This differs from the neighbor-
ing narrative scenes as well, where the tituli appear above the
heads of the figures they identify. Two determining factors
appear to have motivated the distinctive placement of the

inscription within the Annunciation: the desire to maintain
the inscription's legibility for viewers looking up at the image
from the ground while at the same time still indicating visually
that the words represent the angel's spoken communication
included within the images of the Christological cycle should,

therefore, be considered authentic.
to the Virgin.
The words that appear between the figures of Gabriel and

Mary in the Annunciation are already familiar from the later
placement within the image, it appears that, despite the

rather different display context, the Annunciation in the
images discussed above: "Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum."
oratory of John VII may have been intended to function in

much the same way as the late medieval examples discussed
above, prompting viewers to read the inscription aloud and
address the Virgin with the angel's words of greeting. However, chronologically the image predates any other evidence
for the use of these words as a prayer in the West, although it
may roughly coincide with their introduction into the Roman
mass as an antiphon.35 What, then, would the inclusion of the
The presence of the inscription among the mosaics decoratingJohn VII's oratory is striking in a number of ways. For one,
it is the earliest known appearance of these words in Latin
within a representation of the Annunciation. Moreover, it

differs not only from the other inscriptions that appear in the
narrative scenes of the oratory's Christological cycle, all of

which are simple identifying labels, but also from the descrip-
tive tituli beginning with "ubi" (where) or the Greek equivalent "ivO&" that more usually accompany Roman monumental narrative imagery in this period.34 Like the later images
discussed above, the inscription in the oratory's Annunciation records only the angel's spoken words of greeting.
The placement of these words within the image is also

distinct. Instead of appearing along a single oblique line
projecting from the angel's mouth, as in Simone Martini's
Taking into account both the text of the inscription and its
inscription in this image have meant to its early eighthcentury viewers?
In order to answer that question it is necessary to trace the

history of the image back further still, for in a number of even
earlier representations of the Annunciation the same words
appear in Greek. These images occur both independently

and within narrative cycles, appearing most commonly on
small, portable objects of different kinds. For example, a pair
sanctuary is a fresco of the Annunciation dating to the

mid-seventh century (Fig. 10).41 Hardly visible now, but still
partially legible when the image was uncovered at the beginning of this century, are the words inscribed between the two
1A
.
.. .. . .. .. . . ..
"-ILI
figures.42 Like the mosaic inscription in the oratory, this

painted one began with a cross and consisted of several
horizontal lines of text. Following Gabriel's customary saluta-
.'v~16~I: ? ~??
tion of the Virgin, however, the inscription here continues:

:-~~tJsi
fl 6:o; 5
EYAOFHM[p'vrq oi,] / ENTYNAI=I [KOci e] / AOFHMENO[s
"~~L~~ OR'
Kap-] / HOCTHCKOI[Xhc s ot ov] (EUvoyqp vq oi, Ev yUvvotLi KoIx
EXhoy~lq6VOs o KcxpOrrs p rfs KOLXitxs oov), the words with

which Elizabeth greeted Mary at the Visitation: "Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb"

(Luke 1:42).
The material evidence, therefore, leaves little doubt that
the inscribed Annunciation in the oratory of John VII was
inspired by a Greek model.43 This conclusion will come as no
surprise to those familiar with Roman art of the period, which
is strongly Byzantine in flavor.44 By the early eighth century,
02r~
-r
:4w
1`
-4-:
Rome had witnessed the influx of a diverse population of

immigrants and refugees from throughout the Mediterranean world for almost a century.45John VII was himself Greek
by birth, one of a number of seventh- and early eighth-century
popes of Greek or Syrian origin.46 It is possible that the pope
employed Greek craftsmen to execute the decoration of his
Nil;:
oratory.47 Moreover, close analysis of the chapel's decoration

as a whole reveals that it owes as much to eastern traditions of
IRV
iconography and church decoration as it does to those of

Rome.48 However, the presence of a Greek-inscribed Annunciation among the mid-seventh-century frescoes in S. Maria
Antiqua and the appearance of the same image, but with a

6 Maria Regina, mosaic from the oratory ofJohn VII, 705-7.
Florence, S. Marco (photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY)
Latin inscription, approximately fifty years later in the oratory
of John VII make this one of the very rare cases in which the
monuments themselves illustrate the process by which a

traditionally eastern visual practice was introduced and absorbed into the art of Rome.
of identical gold medallions in Istanbul, possibly dating as

early as the mid-fifth century, is decorated with images of the
birth of Christ on one side and healing miracles on the

other.36 The cycle begins with a scene of the Annunciation,
and the inscription that appears around the angel is XEPE

KAIXAPITOMENI O KYPIOC META [9O0U] (Xot^pE KEXOPLTWPSV 0
K1pLOS aEa' oi^), the corresponding Greek version of the

angel's address, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee"
(Fig. 9).37 The same text is inscribed around the hoop of a
ring in London with an image of the Annunciation on the
bezel, which O. M. Dalton tentatively dated to the seventh
century, and it encircles the figures of Gabriel and Mary in
three cameos from the sixth to seventh century in Paris.38
Moreover, abbreviated versions appear on a clay pilgrim's

token and on one of the ampullae from the Holy Land in
Monza, both dated to the sixth century (Figs. 12, 13).39
At least two monumental examples survive as well. One is in
Egypt, an eighth-century fresco found in the crypt of Abu
Jirjah and subsequently transferred to the Greco-Roman
Equally important, the emphasis on Gabriel's words of

greeting to the Virgin that these early inscribed Annunciation
images display finds a literary counterpart in numerous

homilies, hymns, and other texts from the Greek-speaking world. These texts provide the framework for understand-
ing the angelic salutation's significance in the period leading

up to the early eighth century and for uncovering more fully
the motivations that lie behind its original inclusion in

images.
Patristic commentary on Luke 1:28 is plentiful.49 The

Church Fathers uniformly understood the angelic salutation
to be an expression of Mary's exceptional status as Mother of
God, and some even went so far as to identify the speaking of
these words with the moment of conception itself, pinpoint-
ing the angelic salutation as the precise starting point of

mankind's salvation through the incarnation of Christ.5so
Greek homilists, however, tended to pause longer over this
moment in the narrative than their Latin counterparts. From
Museum in Alexandria.40 More significant to the appearance
the period around the Council of Ephesus in 431, such Greek
of the inscribed Annunciation in the oratory ofJohn VII is the
writers as Cyril of Alexandria, Proclus of Constantinople, and
second example, which is in Rome, in the church of S. Maria
Antipater of Bostra began to embroider and embellish the
Antiqua. On the inner face of the left pier closest to the
angelic salutation, introducing strings of acclamations pat-
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7 Giacomo Grimaldi,
Christological cycle,
oratory ofJohn VII,
1612. Vatican, Bibl.
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A64 ter, fol. 38r
terned after it into their sermons.51 Known as chairetismoi,

these passages praise the Virgin Mary in effusive metaphoric
Another early fifth-century writer, Theodotus of Ancyra,

went further. In his sermon on the Purification, Theodotus
terms and can be found in Greek homilies up through the
removes the angelic salutation and its variations from a
eighth century and beyond.52
narrative context and places them in his own mouth, making
All generations call her blessed as mother of God,

and they pray:
"Hail, virgin undefiled, hail, maiden called of God,
Hail, chaste, and beautiful and delightful virgin,
Hail, virgin full of grace, who didst not know a seed
time, chaste,
Hail, mother who knew no man,
Hail, virgin wife."""55
The angelic salutation is repeated twice more in the hymn,
once during an account of the Annunciation based on the

Gospel of Luke, and the second time in an imagined dialogue
between Mary and Joseph afterward. In the latter instance,
Romanos emphasizes the laudatory value of the angelic

salutation by having Mary compare Gabriel's greeting to
being adorned with jewelry:
[The angel] hung his words

.u,
~T`L~Y~
-?
P-lrUC~~S
~PIP~;ALI
3-
11
9 Gold medallion with Infancy scenes, ca. mid-5th-6th century.
Istanbul, Archaeological Museum (photo: Hirmer)
the chairetismoi very clearly his own personal encomium

addressed to the Virgin:
Let us, then, fervently intone the hymn to the Virgin,

saluting, praising, blessing and magnifying the mystery
Like earrings of pearls on my ears.

Look see how he has beautified me,
As he adorned me with what he said to me.56
The most famous of early Byzantine hymns is the Akathistos, which many scholars also attribute to Romanos.57 In this
hymn, every second strophe concludes with a series of

thirteen chairetismoi. The first half of the hymn recounts the
Incarnation of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Presenta-
tion in the Temple, and the acclamations are put into the
mouths of Gabriel, Elizabeth, the shepherds, the idols in
Egypt, and the Magi. The second half of the hymn provides
commentary on these events and introduces another aspect
which surpasses all human speech. Let us begin the

canticle with the divine salutation with which the heavenly
citizen Gabriel greeted the Virgin: "Hail, full of grace, the
Lord is with thee," and let us repeat this greeting, saying:
Hail, joy whom we have so long desired.
Hail, brightness of the Church.
Hail, name that radiatesjoy.
Hail....
?" 4
and on, and on.53 What is particularly arresting about this text
I;
is that by encouraging his audience to address the Virgin with
the angelic salutation and variations on it, Theodotus explic-
itly requests the same kind of mimetic response from his

listeners that reading aloud the inscription in the Annunciation images elicits from viewers.
Similar passages appear in other contexts. In his first

hymn on the Annunciation, the sixth-century poet and
melodist Romanos places variations on the angel's greeting
into the mouths of the devoted.54 The first strophe of the
hymn reads:
Come, let us accompany the archangel Gabriel
to the Virgin Mary,
And let us greet her as mother

and nourisher of our life.
For it is not only fitting for the general
to salute the queen,

But it is also possible for the humble
to see her and address her.
10 Annunciation, fresco, mid-7th century. Rome, S. Maria

Antiqua (from W. de Gruneison, Ste. Marie Antique [Rome: M.
Bretschneider, 1911], pl. IC.XIX.A)
TlE ANGELIC SALUTATION 429
of the angelic salutation's significance. Here the chairetismoi

become a prayer of the faithful for Mary's protection, as, for
example, in strophe 19:
O Virgin, Mother of God, thou art the defense of virgins
And of all those who turn to thee in prayer;
For the Creator of Heaven and earth created thee,
And dwelt in thy womb, and taught all to address thee:

"Hail, pillar of virginity,
Hail, gate of salvation,
Hail... ."58
',IV
The conception of Mary as protector and mediator of those

who pray to her because of her role in the Incarnation is a
theme that runs through the second half of the hymn, which
ends with the entreaty:
kh"
O Mother, praised by all, who gave birth to the Word,

Holiest of all the saints,
IV.
As thou dost accept the present offering,

Redeem all people from every disaster,
ly
a~~~?~-~
And redeem from future punishment those who cry:
"Hallelujah!"59
The angelic salutation's simultaneous value to the believer
as both acclamation of Mary as Mother of God and invocation
,0
of her resulting power to mediate for mankind is demonstrated even more clearly in a seventh-century homily on the
Annunciation by Pseudo-Athanasius.60 The homily concludes
with a passage in which all the ranks of angels praise Mary

using either the words of the angelic salutation or Elizabeth's
greeting at the Visitation. Characterizing the former as "the
first offerings of praise" and "the most revelatory and

comprehensive hymn," the homilist then encourages his
11 Gospels of the Priest, Madonna and Child, 966. Baltimore,

Walters Art Gallery ms W. 537, fol. 2r
listeners to follow Gabriel's example: "Wherefore, we too of

the earthly hierarchy, bearing the exaltations of God in our
throat, having learned or borrowed the words, raise an

exaltation with a great and penetrating voice, 'Hail, full of
popularity on objects with apotropaic or prophylactic powers,

such as the ring, cameos, pendant, and pilgrim's ampulla and
grace, the Lord is with you.' "61 Directly after this, the homily
token described above. Indeed, a comparison between the
unequivocally voices the hoped-for response with a plea to
ring in the British Museum and a second ring in Paris suggests
Mary that grounds her power to intercede in her role in the
Incarnation: "Intercede for us, O Lady and Mistress, Queen
this very clearly.64 Both rings have images of the Annunciation

on the bezel, and in both cases the bezel is attached to a flat,
and Mother of God, for you are one of us, and the one born of
you into the flesh is our God."
octagonal hoop, a shape that already implies a protective

function; the instructions of the sixth-century physician
This text finds a striking parallel in an image in a tenth-
Alexander of Tralles for making an eight-sided ring to cure

colic are well known.65 Most telling, however, is a comparison
between the two inscriptions adorning the hoop. Where the
ring in the British Museum displays the words of the angelic
century Armenian Gospel book in Baltimore (Walters Art

Gallery, ms W. 537, fol. 2r).62 The miniature shows Mary with
both hands raised in prayer and the Christ Child standing in
front of her (Fig. 11). To the side, framed by a box, is an

inscription giving the angelic salutation. Viewed against the
background of the hymns and homilies discussed, the meaning of this juxtaposition of text and image is clear.63" From her
role as Mother of God, Mary earns both the angel's praise and
her power to mediate. Inspired by the image and inscription
together to address Mary with the words of the angel, the
viewer petitions Mary to use her power to intercede on his or
her behalf.
Looking again now at the early inscribed Annunciation

images, one understands better the choice of text, given the
literary evidence for the angelic salutation's use as a prayer for
mediation and protection. This surely explains the image's
salutation, the Paris ring reads OEOTOKE R[O]HOI TIN AOYAIN

FIOPAC (Theotokos, protect your servant Giora). Distinguishing two otherwise almost identical rings, the difference in
inscription suggests that the two texts simply functioned as
alternative ways of saying the same thing.
The kind of mimetic response that the act of reading the

inscription in an Annunciation image encouraged in viewers
makes the appearance of such images on the pilgrim's

ampulla and token especially interesting, since mimesis was
an integral aspect of the experience of pilgrimage (Figs. 12,
13).66 For pilgrims, visiting the holy sites involved more than
just recollection of sacred history at the places where it had
occurred; it entailed an attempt to relive the events that had
particularly well since it is one of the few examples decorated

with a whole Christological cycle on its reverse side, displaying
almost the full repertoire of scenes usually appearing on the
ampullae individually, one to a side (Fig. 13). Scholars have

long recognized that a number of these scenes-notably the
Nativity and the Women at the Tomb--include anachronistic
:criol
details of architecture that represent the biblical event in

terms of the pilgrim's own experience of the holy site.73 The
substitution of censers for jars of spices in the hands of the
oq:~ji
14
Women at the Tomb achieves the same effect, recalling
04
Egeria's description of the actions of the clergy every Sunday

morning at the Anastasis Rotunda. 74 Moreover, the inclusion
of two kneeling figures adoring the cross in scenes of the

Crucifixion paints the pilgrims themselves into the picture, so
to speak, providing a visual parallel to the recorded actions of

a sixth-century pilgrim from Piacenza whose visit to the shrine
at Golgotha included kissing and venerating the Wood of the

Cross kept there.75 Vikan has drawn attention to the fact that
in many such images of the Crucifixion the worshiping figures
flanking the cross appear in the kneeling pose and exotic

costume of the Magi, visually assimilating the pilgrims to their
12 Annunciation, pilgrim's clay token, ca. 6th century. Monza,
cathedral of Monza Treasury (from Grabar, pl. 31)
biblical prototypes, the three kings who firstjourneyed to the
Holy Land from afar to worship Christ.76 Taken together,

therefore, the images on the ampullae blur the distinction
between the biblical events and the pilgrim's attempt to relive
those events through imitating biblically sanctioned models
taken place in them through engaging in various types of

mimetic activity. This could take the form of individually
of behavior at the sites where they had occurred. As such, they
performed actions, such as throwing a stone at the site where
perpetuate the fleeting experience of typological identifica-
David killed Goliath.67 Pilgrims could also participate in
tion and participation in sacred history that was the primary
collective liturgical reenactments. Egeria, a fourth-century

pilgrim who traveled to the Holy Land from Spain, recorded
aim of pilgrimage.
one such reenactment that took place at the Anastasis
The image on the token represents the angel's first appear-
Rotunda, the site of Christ's Resurrection. Here, every Sunday, the clergy carried censers into the tomb to perform the
actions of the three women who brought spices to embalm
version of the Annunciation in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James (Fig. 12).77 The first two words of the
Christ's body, and the bishop, standing at the door of the

tomb, took on the role of the angel and proclaimed Christ's
resurrection.68 As Gary Vikan has observed, the reenactment
of sacred history at the very site where it had happened

created a kind of "living icon" by which pilgrims could take
part in the sanctity of the holy event and become typologically
at one with its participants.69
The special nature of this experience left its mark on the
objects produced for pilgrims at the loca sancta. Both the

token and the ampulla belong to a fairly large class of such
objects.70 The ampullae are little flasks that could be worn
around the neck and originally contained oil from one or

more of the holy sites visited by their pilgrim owners. The
tokens are made of pressed earth, the example under discus-
sion possibly taken from the site of the Annunciation at

Nazareth. These objects
as durable simulacra of
with the holy places.71
therefore, they served
functioned both as contact relics and

the pilgrim's own sanctifying contact
Embodying the pilgrim's experience,
as a permanent source of the "bless-
Where does the inscribed Annunciation fit into all of this?
ance to Mary as she draws water from a well, following the
salutation, here written XEPE KEXAPITOMHNI (Hail, full of
grace), occupy the space directly below the angel in the

center of the medallion. By contrast, the Annunciation on the
ampulla (at upper left) follows a different and more common

iconographic formula, showing Mary on the right, standing in
front of a chair as though she has just risen at the sight of the
angel approaching from the left (Fig. 13). Like the image on
the token, however, the Annunciation on the ampulla also

makes reference to the apocryphal account in the basket of
wool at Mary's feet; in the Protoevangelium of James, the

angel appears to Mary a second time while she is spinning
purple wool for the veil of the temple.7" The salutation
inscribed between the two figures here takes an even further
abbreviated form, consisting only of the word XEpE (Hail).
In previous scholarship, the Annunciation on the ampulla
has never been considered in relation to the scenes around it,
and the image has remained largely outside the discussion of

pilgrimage art. In part, this neglect may be due to the fact that
inscription on the ampulla's obverse side reads, that pilgrims
relatively little is known about pilgrimage to the site of the

Annunciation in Nazareth, which is less well documented
could carry away with them, allowing them to enjoy the
than at some of the other loca sancta. Egeria mentions only
ings of the Lord of the holy places of [Christ]," as the
benefits of pilgrimage long after they had returned home.72
that she saw an altar placed in a large cave where Mary had
The images adorning these objects participated in their

function. The ampulla under discussion demonstrates this
lived.79 By the time the Piacenza Pilgrim visited Nazareth, the
"house of Saint Mary" was a basilica, and Mary's clothes the
IV%
- orn
lbb
iraL
4WOl~~~:
of
01'-
-of,
aw~i~
fa'
60 *i
41"
T10-14
qk'
rI,
4W
lip
04L.
13 Pilgrim's ampulla with Christological scenes, ca. 6th century. Monza, cathedral of Monza Treasury (from Grabar, pl. 5)
cause of frequent miracles, but the only specific mention he

makes of the Annunciation is in connection with a relic, the
chair on which Mary was sitting when the angel appeared to
ing his death in 707, the pope was buried under the pavement
in front of the altar, and he evidently had this function in
mind from the outset, since concern to ensure the salvation of
her, which was kept in the nearby city of Diocaesarea.80
his soul appears to have motivated most aspects of the
year 680 is the first that explicitly links the site with the event
chapel's construction and decoration.86

To achieve his goal, John set great store on the agency of
Adomnan's account of Arculf's visit to Nazareth about the
that took place there, mentioning the existence of a church

"built on the site of the house in which the archangel Gabriel
came to the Blessed Mary, and spoke to her there, finding her
alone."81s
the Virgin Mary, to whom he was strongly devoted. The

oratory was dedicated to Mary, and the reason is explicitly
stated in the pope's epitaph: "Here Pope John erected for
himself a tomb and ordered that he be laid under the feet of
Archaeology fills in the picture somewhat. The present

basilica of the Annunciation, erected 1960-69, is just the
latest in a series of sanctuaries built over the cave reputed to
be the site of Mary's encounter with the angel.82 Earlier

structures on the same site include an eighteenth-century
church, an early twelfth-century Crusader church, and a
Byzantine church, the last of which must be the structure
mentioned by Adomnan and the Piacenza Pilgrim. When the
Byzantine church was excavated during the course of the

present basilica's construction, archaeologists discovered the
remains of an even earlier structure, including stone architec-
the Lady, committing his soul to the protection of the holy

mother, the unwedded virgin and parent, who brought forth
God.''87 Mary was also a dominating presence in the mosaics
that decorated the chapel's east wall, where the role she was
called on to play was clearly conveyed in visual terms (Fig. 7).
In the surviving portion of the central panel Mary assumes
two guises (Fig. 6). Elaborately dressed and adorned with

jewels, she appears as Maria Regina, and as Maria Mediatrix
she lifts both hands in prayer. The Christological cycle that
framed this panel provided the foundation and justification
tural fragments, floor mosaics, clay roofing tiles, and other

materials.83 Many of the architectural fragments display graffiti. Among the fragments is a column base inscribed X(aLp)E
MAPIA (Hail Mary).84
This inscription cannot be dated with any precision beyond
a rough assignment to the fourth or fifth century, the general
period in which Egeria's visit to the site falls.85 Its importance
lies in the evidence it provides for the performance of the
same kind of mimetic activity at the site of the Annunciation
for such a representation of Mary's power and status. As both

Anna D. Kartsonis and Robert Deshman observed, the relation-
that Egeria and later the Piacenza Pilgrim describe at the

other loca sancta. The pilgrim who wrote this graffito ex-
throne emphasized the importance of her role in the events
pressed his or her devotion to Mary in an echo of Gabriel's

original salutation of the Virgin in the very place where it had
first been voiced. There is no way of knowing whether a

representation of the Annunciation inscribed with the angelic
salutation adorned the sanctuary and inspired the pilgrim's
choice of words. However, if the pilgrim decided to commemorate a visit to the holy site by purchasing a token like the one
surviving in Monza, the inscribed image would have encouraged the repetition of this form of devotion so that in the
future the owner might continue to receive the "Blessing of
the Theotokos" that the inscription around its rim promises.
Indeed, it is tempting to speculate that the idea of inscribing
images of the Annunciation with the words of the angelic

salutation may have originated in the Holy Land, since the
type of mimetic experience that reading the angel's words
aloud inspired in viewers is so intrinsic to the practices and
purpose of pilgrimage.
The Inscribed Annunciation in the Oratory of John VII
The introduction of the inscribed Annunciation into the art
of early medieval Rome and its appearance, with a Latin

inscription, in the oratory of John VII provides the opportunity to observe the image functioning within an entirely new
contextual framework. Here the image participated in a
complex decorative program that attests both to its versatility

and to the intellectual and artistic creativity of the authors of
the decoration who incorporated the inscribed Annunciation

so seamlessly into a larger whole.
The oratory ofJohn VII was a funerary monument. Follow-
ship between the figure of Mary and the Christological cycle

surrounding it expressed the Virgin's centrality to the story of
mankind's redemption through her role in the incarnation of

Christ.88 Weighted toward the beginning of the story, the
cycle devoted the whole top register to scenes related to the
birth of Christ. Within these scenes Mary's prominent placement and the inclusion of the attribute of a jewel-encrusted
depicted. Moreover, the positioning of the Nativity scene

immediately above the focal central panel set up a direct
relationship between Mary's historical role as Mother of God
and her resulting regal status and power as mediator.89
Standing below this commanding figure of Mary, John VII

offered up to her a model of the oratory. Again, the scenes in
the top register functioned as visual commentary on the

action represented in the central image. In each of the
narrative scenes Mary was the recipient of tribute of one kind
or another. She was the object of Gabriel's and Elizabeth's

acclamations at the Annunciation and Visitation, and along
with the infant Christ she received the service of the midwives
in the Nativity and the gifts of the Magi in the Adoration

scene.90 Bearing his gift to the Virgin like the Magi, John
identified himself in the inscription that accompanied the

scene as "servant of the holy mother of God.'""'1 The equation
betweenJohn's gift of the oratory to Mary and the concept of
service to her also appears in the epitaph:
Previous squalor removed, he brought together splendor

from all parts so that posterity might be amazed by the
lavishness, not with eagerness for ostentation ... but with
pious fervor for the mother of God. Not sparing riches, he
divided whatever he had that was precious in your service
[in tua . . . munera], holy mother.92
Munus is a term that means simultaneously "service" and

"gift." Visually and conceptually assimilated to the servant
and donor figures in the narrative scenes of the top register,
John thus grounded his present actions in biblical prototypes

in a personal bid for future salvation.
The inscribed Annunciation involved the viewers in this
project as well, by encouraging them to direct the words of the
angelic salutation to Mary. For the use of the angelic salutation as a prayer for mediation in this period was not confined
to the homilies and hymns quoted above; most relevant to the
text's appearance in the decoration of the oratory ofJohn VII
is its inclusion in the prayer of intercession for the dead in two
early Greek liturgies, the Liturgy of SaintJames, used by the
church of Antioch, and the Liturgy of Saint Mark, used by the
church of Alexandria.3 Although not part of the original text
of these liturgies, the angelic salutation had been interpolated into the intercession by at least the ninth century, and
probably earlier.94 In this prayer, the angelic salutation is

followed by Elizabeth's greeting to the Virgin at the Visitation,
"Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of

your womb," providing a verbal parallel to the visual linking
of the two images within one panel in the oratory decoration.
There are no records documenting how the oratory ofJohn
VII functioned originally as a liturgical space; however, its

relatively small size, the presence of an altar, and the repeated
reference to its papal patron through his image, inscriptions,

and the placement of his tomb there strongly suggest that its
primary function was the celebration of special, private

masses forJohn VII's soul. Moreover, this coincides with what
is known about developing commemorative practices in the
Roman church at the time.95
Frequently Cited Sources

Grabar, Andre, Les ampoules de Terre sainte (Monza-Bobbio) (Paris: Klincksieck,
1958).
Nordhagen, Per Jonas, Studies in Byzantine and Early Medieval Painting (London: Pindar Press, 1990).
Wieck, Roger, Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life, exh.
cat., Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1988.
, Painted Prayers: The Book of Hours in Medieval and Renaissance Art, exh.
cat., Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1997.
Wilkinson, John, Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades (Warminster: Aris and
Phillips, 1977).
Notes
A much earlier version of this article was presented as a paper under the title
"Ave Gratia Plena Dominus Tecum: The Annunciation in the Oratory of Pope
John VII (705-707) in Old St. Peter's, Rome" at the Universities Art
Association of Canada Annual Conference, Halifax, Nov. 1994. Some of the
material is also found in my doctoral dissertation, "The Oratory of PopeJohn
VII (705-707) in Old St. Peter's," the Johns Hopkins University, 1995. For
criticism, help, and/or encouragement I am grateful to: Anthony Cutler, Kelly

Holbert, Herbert Kessler, William Noel and his assistant Matthew Bellingham,
John Osborne, Glenn Peers,John Paoletti, Nancy Sevcenko, Robert Sinkewicz,
Gary Vikan, Roger Wieck, and two anonymous reviewers of my manuscript.
Unless otherwise indicated, translations are mine. Biblical texts in Latin are
cited from the Vulgate and in English from the Douay-Rheims translation.
1. Andrew Martindale, Simone Martini, complete ed. (Oxford: Phaidon,

1988), 41-43, 187-90. Simone Martini was assisted by Lippo Memmi, and the
central panel is inscribed: SIMON MARTINI ET LIPPVS MEMMI DE ANNO DOMINI

MCCCXXXII SENIS ME PINXERVNT. Flanking the central image of the Annunciation
are the figures of Saint Ansanus and probably Saint Margaret. Above are the
busts of the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Daniel in roundels

inscribed with prophecies of the Incarnation. The frame dates to the 19th
century.
In the Roman mass for the dead in use in the early eighth
century, Mary's presence is minimal, and the angelic salutation appears neither among the prayers for intercession nor
anywhere else in the text.96 Nonetheless, there can be little
doubt that the creators of the oratory's decoration were well
acquainted with the angelic salutation's traditional significance in both text and image, and they used the chapel's
pictorial decoration as a forum to teach it to viewers. Inspired
by the inscribed Annunciation image to imitate the angel

Gabriel and adopt his words of greeting, viewers would add
their own gifts of praise for the Virgin to those offered by the
angel, Elizabeth, the midwives, the Magi, and John VII

himself. In this case, however, they would address their
salutations to the imposing figure of Mary in the central
panel, whose regal appearance invites them to "adorn" her
and hang their "words like earrings of pearls on [her] ears,"
to borrow some phrases of Romanos cited above. As expressed verbally in the Akathistos hymn and the homily by
Pseudo-Athanasius and visually in the later Armenian miniature, Mary's response to this mode of address is contained in
the gesture she makes. Her hands raised in prayer, Mary

leaves no doubt what the resulting benefit will be, both for the
soul of the pope represented beside her, and for that of the
viewer.
2. On the iconography of the Annunciation, see Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, vol. 1, trans. J. Seligman (Greenwich, Conn.: New York
Graphic Society, 1971), 33-52. For the early history of Annunciation iconography, see G. A. Wellen, Theotokos: Eine ikonographische Abhandlung iiber das
Gottesmutterbild infriihchristlicher Zeit (Utrecht: Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, 1961),
37-44.
3. Psalm 104:4; Hebrews 1:7.

4. Henk van Os, Sienese Altarpieces 1215-1460; Form, Content, Function, vol. 1
(Groningen: Bouma's Boekhuis, 1984), 79-82; idem, Marias Demut und
Verherrlichung in der sienesischen Malerei 1300-1450 (The Hague: Ministerie van

Cultuur, Recreatie en Maatschappelijk Werk, Staatsuitgeverij, 1969), 37-47.
5. For example, Roger Tarr, " 'Visibile parlare': The Spoken Word in
Fourteenth-Century Central Italian Painting," Word and Image 13 (1997):
223-44, esp. 224-29, discusses this inscription in two other closely contemporary Italian examples in addition to Simone Martini's altarpiece; however, as
this article demonstrates, I do not agree with his posited source for the
inscription in Dante.
6. Helpful discussions of the role of inscriptions in medieval imagery in
general can be found in Mieczyslaw Wallis, "Inscriptions in Paintings,"
Semiotica 9 (1973): 1-28, esp. 1-14; Alison R. Flett, "The Significance of Text
Scrolls: Towards a Descriptive Terminology," in Medieval Texts and Images:
Studies of Manuscripts from the Middle Ages, ed. M. M. Manion and B. J. Muir
(Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991), 43-56. For a

discussion of the various ways, including inscriptions, in which Gabriel's
message was visualized in images of the Annunciation from the 10th century
on, see Horst Wenzel, "Die Verkfindigung an Maria: Zur Visualisierung des
Wortes in der Szene oder: Schriftgeschichte im Bild," in Maria in der Welt:
Marienverehrung im Kontext der Sozialgeschichte im Bild, ed. C. Opitz et al. (Zurich:
Chronos, 1993), 23-52.

7. "Discursive inscriptions" and "written voices" are terms that have been
used to describe such inscriptions as they appear in Byzantine painting from
the 9th century on, in a variety of different images; see Leslie Brubaker,
"When Pictures Speak: The Incorporation of Dialogue in the Ninth-Century
Miniatures of Paris gr. 510," Word and Image 12 (1996): 94-109; Nancy
Ann van Dijk received her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University.
Her dissertation deals with the relationship between the decoration of
John VII's oratory and its function as a burial monument. Currently

she is researching the later history of the oratory and its transforma-
tion into the Veronica Chapel [236 Loraine Ave., 3rd floo~ Cincinnati, Ohio 45220].
Sevcenko, "Written Voices: The Spoken Word on Byzantine Works of Art,"

paper presented at the annual conference of the College Art Association,
Boston, Feb. 1996. My thanks to Dr. Sevcenko for allowing me to read her
paper. For a discussion of the same phenomenon in 14th-century Italian
painting, see Tarr (as in n. 5).

8. Maria E. G6ssman, Die Verkiindigung an Maria im dogmatischen Verstdndnis
des Mittelalters (Munich: Max Hueber, 1957).
9. The most detailed treatments remain Herbert Thurston, "The Origins of

the Hail Mary," in Familiar Prayers: Their Origin and History (London: Burns
Oates, 1953), 90-114; Henri Leclercq, "Marie (Je vous salue)," in Dictionnaire
d'archdologie chritienne et de liturgie, 11 vols. (Paris: Letouzey et And, 1903-53),
vol. 10, pt. 2 (1932), 2041-62. See alsoJohn Hennig, "Ave Maria," in Dictionary
of the Middle Ages, 13 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982-89), vol. 2
(1983), 13-14; and Nicholas Ayo, The Hail Mary: A Verbal Icon of Mary (Notre
Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994), 6-12. The petition for
Mary's intercession that today forms the second half of the prayer became
common only later.
10. Wieck, 1997, 51-54; idem, 1988, 27-28.
11. W. Henry, "Angelus," in Dictionnaire d'archiologie chritienne (as in n. 9),
vol. 1, pt. 2 (1907), 2068-78; John Hennig, "Angelus," in Dictionary of the
Middle Ages (as in n. 9), vol. 1 (1982), 252-53. Other examples of such
practices are the Marian psalter and the rosary, on which see most recently
Anne Winston-Allen, Stories of the Rose: The Making of the Rosary in the Middle Ages
(University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997).

12. Van Os, 1984 (as in n. 4), 82; idem, 1969 (as in n. 4), 43-44.
13. Paul Saenger, Space between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading (Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997), esp. 256-76; idem, "Books of Hours
and the Reading Habits of the Later Middle Ages," in The Culture of Print:
Powers and the Uses ofPrint in Early Modern Europe, ed. R. Chartier (Cambridge:
Polity Press, 1989), 141-73.

14. Wieck, 1988, 60-72; idem, 1997, 55-78.
15. Another system prefaces the Hours of the Virgin with images from
Christ's Passion, but it is less common; see Wieck, 1988, 66-71.
16. James J. Rorimer, The Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, Queen of France, at the
Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 1957); Francois Avril, Manuscript Painting at the Court of France: The
Fourteenth Century (1310-1380) (New York: George Braziller, 1978), 13-17, 31,
34, 44-59. For an interesting and convincing discussion of the pictorial
program of the manuscript's full-page illustrations, as well as more recent

bibliography, see also Joan Holladay, "The Education of Jeanne d'Evreux:
Personal Piety and Dynastic Salvation in Her Book of Hours at the Cloisters,"
Art History 17 (1994): 585-611. I have not yet had the opportunity to consult
the new facsimile edition of this manuscript.
17. For additional examples, see Frank O. Biittner, Imitatio Pietatis: Motive der
christlichen Ikonographie als Modelle zur Verdhnlichung (Berlin: Gebriider Mann,
1983), 70-77. However, Biittner sees the patrons in these images as imitating
Mary and understands the role of the angel to be intercessory. For other
interpretations of the function of owner portraits in Books of Hours, see also

Joan Naughton, "A Minimally-Intrusive Presence: Portraits in Illustrations for
Prayers to the Virgin," in Manion and Muir (as in n. 6), 111-26; Roger Wieck,
"The Savoy Hours and Its Impact on Jean, Duc de Berry," Yale University
Library Gazette, suppl. to 66 (1991): 159-80.
18. The other instance is on fol. 102v, the first of the series of illuminations
illustrating the Hours of Saint Louis, whereJeanne appears kneeling in prayer
before an image of the saint.
19. Holladay (as in n. 16), 603-4, came to a different conclusion about the
appearance of Jeanne at this point in the manuscript's decorative program.
The two interpretations, however, are not mutually exclusive.
20. The text of the Hours of the Virgin varies according to use, and this
statement is true in Hours for the use of Rome, which became the most
popular version; see Wieck, 1997, 52-54, 138; idem, 1988, 159-61. The text of
the Hours ofJeanne d'Evreux, however, follows Dominican use; see Rorimer
(as in n. 16), 8. I have not had the opportunity to examine the text of this
manuscript, but in a Book of Hours for Dominican use in Baltimore (Walters
Art Gallery ms W. 439), the Ave Maria appears only as a versicle after the
second lesson. On this manuscript, see also n. 23 below.
21. Wieck, 1997, 59, cat. no. 40. The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore owns
another early example, printed in Paris in 1525 by P. V. and sold by Germain
Hardouin.
22. Wieck, 1997, 52. I am most grateful to Dr. Wieck for discussing the issue
with me further through correspondence.
23. Lilian M. C. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters
Art Gallery, vol. 3 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), 226-34,
cat. no. 246; Wieck, 1988, 189;8, cat. no. 40. Another manuscript in which the
text of the prayer appears immediately before Matins is Walters Art Gallery ms
Rom, R6mische Forschungen der Bibliotheca Hertziana, vol. 19 (Vienna:
Schroll, 1964), 68-69.

27. When the oratory was destroyed, the bust of the figure ofJohn VII was
transported to the Vatican grottoes for exhibition, where, in a much restored
state, it remains to this day. At the same time, the figure of Mary was taken to
the church of S. Marco in Florence to adorn the altar of the Ricci Chapel. See
Andaloro (as in n. 25), 169, 173; Nordhagen, 62-67.

28. Vatican, Bibl. Apost., Archivio di S. Pietro ms A64 ter, fol. 38r. On the
creation of the volume, see Reto Niggl, Giacomo Grimaldi (1568-1623): Leben
und Werk des rdmischen Archdologen und Historikers (Munich: Ludwig-Maximilians
Universitfit, 1971), 39-40, 308. The drawing measures approximately 10 1/2

by 16 inches (27 by 41 cm).
29. On the meaning of this gesture, see Thomas Mathews, "The Early
Armenian Iconographic Program of the Ejmiacin Gospel (Erevan, Matanadaran MS 2374, olim 229)," in East of Byzantium: Syria and Armenia in the
Formative Period, ed. N. Garsoian et al. (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks,
1982), 204.
30. Vatican, Bibl. Apost. ms Barb. lat. 2732, fols. 76v-77r.
31. For a detailed assessment of the trustworthiness of Grimaldi's documen-
tation of the oratory, see Ann van Dijk, "The Oratory of Pope John VII
(705-707) in Old St. Peter's," Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1995,
7-120 passim.
32. The epigraphic inscriptions are discussed in ibid., 10-30.
33. For example, compare the scene of the Presentation in the Temple
recorded in the oratory ofJohn VII withJohn VII's fresco of the same scene in
S. Maria Antiqua; Per Jonas Nordhagen, "The Frescoes of John VII (A.D.
705-707) in S. Maria Antiqua in Rome," Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium
Historiam Pertinentia 3 (1968): 25-26, pl. 21. See also the discussion of the
mid-7th-century Annunciation in this church below.
34. Near-contemporary examples of monumental narrative imagery in

Rome with such descriptive inscriptions are the Quiricus and Julitta cycle in
the Theodotus Chapel and the Old Testament cycle in the left aisle of S. Maria
Antiqua; the Libertinus cycle in S. Clemente; a scene from the life of Saint
Silvester in S. Martino ai Monti; and the New Testament scenes in S. Saba. See
John Osborne, Early Medieval Wall Paintings in the Lower Church of San Clemente,
Rome (New York: Garland, 1984), 145-49; Francesco Gandolfo, "Gli affreschi
di S. Saba," in Andaloro et al. (as in n. 25), 183-87. On the use of inscriptions
in monumental narrative paintings in general, see Herbert Kessler, "Diction
in the 'Bibles of the Illiterate,' " in World Art: Themes of Unity and Diversity, Acts
of the XXVIth International Congress of the History of Art (University Park,

Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989), reprinted in idem, Studies in
Pictorial Narrative (London: Pindar, 1994), 34-48 (page reference is to the
reprint).
35. In some of the earliest surviving Roman mass antiphonaries, dating to
the 8th and 9th centuries, the angelic salutation begins one of the processional antiphons for the Feast of the Purification and is listed as the offertory
antiphon for the Feast of the Annunciation; in some cases it also appears as the
offertory antiphon for the fourth Sunday in Advent and as an alternate for the
Wednesday after the third Sunday in Advent; see Ren6-Jean Hesbert, ed.,
Antiphonale missarum sextuplex (Brussels: Vromant, 1935; reprint, Rome:
Herder, 1985), 8-9, 10-11, 36-37, 44-45; on this liturgical book, see also
Cyrille Vogel, Medieval Liturgy: An Introduction to the Sources, ed. and trans. W.
Story and N. Rasmussen (Washington, D.C.: Pastoral Press, 1986), 357-60.

The introduction of the angelic salutation into the Roman mass antiphonary
has been dated to the 7th century; see Hesbert, xxxviiif, lxxxf.
36. Asn i Bilban Yalcin, "I due medaglioni di Adana nel Museo Archeo-
logico di Istanbul," in Arte profana e arte sacra a Bisanzio, ed. A. Iacobini and E.
Zanini (Rome: Argos, 1995), 525-55.
37. "KEXotp'7Top6v'rq" is more correctly translated as "favored one" or

"favored woman," although it is frequently rendered as "full of grace"
following the Latin version of the same text. For a discussion of the differences
between the Latin and Greek versions of this biblical passage, see The Gospel
According to Luke (I-IX), intro., trans., and notes byJoseph A. Fitzmyer, Anchor
Bible, vol. 28 (Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1981), 344-46.
38. The inscription on the hoop of the ring in London reads: + XEPE
W. 439, fol. 100r, a Book of Hours made in Ghent, ca. 1480-90; see Randall,
vol. 3, 423-36, esp. 425, cat. no. 281.
24. Of the eight early printed editions owned by the Waiters Art Gallery in
which the text of the prayer appears at the beginning of Matins, not one is
illustrated with an inscribed Annunciation image: either the image appears
without the inscription or the image does not appear at all. Ms W. 439, the
other manuscript in which the text appears at the beginning of Matins, also
follows this pattern, prefacing the Hour with an uninscribed image of the
Annunciation; on this manuscript, see n. 23 above.
25. Maria Andaloro, "I mosaici dell'Oratorio di Giovanni VII," in Fragmenta
picta: Affreschi e mosaici staccati del medioevo romano, ed. M. Andaloro et al.
(Rome: Argos, 1989), 169-77; PerJonas Nordhagen, "The Mosaics ofJohn VII
KEXAPI[T0p1vr1] O K(fOpLo)C META COY; see O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Finger
(705-707 A.D.) ," Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 2 (1965):
apse fresco in Deir es Sourian provides a later example from the 12th century;
see the group of articles in Cahiers Archdologiques 43 (1995): 117-52.
121-66, reprinted in Nordhagen, 58-130; Olga Etinhof, "I mosaici di Roma
nella raccolta di P. Sevastianov," Bollettino d'Arte 76, no. 66 (1991): 29-38.
26. Giacomo Grimaldi, Descrizione della Basilica Antica di S. Pietro in Vaticano:
Codice Barberini Latino 2733, ed. R. Niggl (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana, 1972), 105-13, 117-28, 257-59. On the drawings, see also Stephan
Waetzoldt, Die Kopien des 17. Jahrhunderts nach Mosaiken und Wandmalereien in
Rings (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1912), 7, cat. no. 39. For the
cameos in Paris, see Byzance: L'art byzantin dans les collections publiques francaises,
exh. cat., Mus&e du Louvre, Paris, 1992, 89, cat. nos. 40-41, 277-78, cat. no.
184. The first two are inscribed: + XAIPE KE XAPITOMENH O K(O1pLo)C META COY
and + XEPE KAI XAPITOMENH O K(iOpto)C META COY. The inscription of the third
is not published, although it is visible in the photograph.
39. Grabar, 18-20, 31. For the inscriptions, see the discussion below.
40. Marie-Hdline Rutschowscaya, "Christian Subjects in Coptic Art: Annunciation," in The CopticEncyclopedia, 8 vols. (NewYork: Macmillan, 1991), vol. 2,
528-29; Henri Leclercq, "Girgeh (Kom Abou)," in Dictionnaire d'archdologie

chritienne (as in n. 9), vol. 6, pt. 1 (1924), 1246-58. The recently uncovered
41. PerJonas Nordhagen, "S. Maria Antiqua: The Frescoes of the Seventh
Century," Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 8 (1978): 107-9,
reprinted in Nordhagen, 195-97.

42. Gordon McN. Rushforth, "S. Maria Antiqua," Papers oftheBritish School at
Rome 1 (1902): 83. The inscription is also visible inJosefWilpert, Die riimischen
Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV bis XIII. Jahrhundert, vol. 4
(Freiburg im Bresgau: Herder, 1916), pl. 143, 1.

43. The same is probably true of the introduction of the angelic salutation
into the Roman antiphonary. In one of the earliest manuscript witnesses, the
Antiphonary of Mont Blandin (Brussels, Bibliothbque Royale, codex 10127-
10144, fols. 90-115), the text of the processional antiphon for the Feast of the
Purification, which includes the angelic salutation, appears in Greek as well as
Latin; see Hesbert (as in n. 35), 36; Vogel (as in n. 35), 359. This suggests that
the use of the angelic salutation as an antiphon, like its inclusion in the
decoration of the oratory, derives from eastern usage.
44. For a good overview of earlier literature on this issue, see Per Jonas
Nordhagen, "Italo Byzantine Wall Painting of the Early Middle Ages: An
80-Year Old Enigma in Scholarship," in Bisanzio, Roma e l'Italia nell'alto
medioevo, vol. 2, Settimane di Studio, vol. 34 (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi
sull'Alto Medioevo, 1988), 593-624, reprinted in Nordhagen, 430-71. In

addition, see also Anna D. Kartsonis, Anastasis: The Making of an Image
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), 69-81; William Tronzo, "The

Prestige of Saint Peter's: Observations on the Function of Monumental
Narrative Cycles in Italy," in Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity and the Middle Ages,
ed. H. Kessler and M. S. Simpson, Studies in the History of Art, vol. 16

(Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1985), 93-112; Kathleen Corri-
gan, "The Witness of John the Baptist on an Early Byzantine Icon in Kiev,"
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 42 (1988): 1-11, esp. 7-9.
45.Jean-Marie Sansterre, Les moines grecs et orientaux d Rome aux 0poques
byzantine et carolingienne (milieu du Vie s.-fin du IXe s.) (Brussels: Acad6mie
Royale de Belgique, 1983), 9-50.
46. Le Liberpontificalis, vol. 1, ed. L. Duchesne, 2d ed. (Paris: Boccard, 1955),
385.
65. Alexander of Tralles 8.2, ed. Theodor Puschmann, vol. 2 (Vienna, 1879;
reprint, Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1962), 377. See also Gary Vikan, "Art, Medicine, and Magic in Early Byzantium," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 38 (1984): 76;
Jeffrey C. Anderson, "A Polygonal Ring with Signs of the Zodiac," Gesta 18
(1979): 41.
66. The following discussion is heavily dependent on Gary Vikan, Byzantine
Pilgrimage Art (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1982); idem, "Pilgrims in
Magi's Clothing: The Impact of Mimesis on Early Byzantine Pilgrimage Art,"
97-107, and Cynthia Hahn, "Loca Sancta Souvenirs: Sealing the Pilgrim's
Experience," 85-96, in The Blessings of Pilgrimage, ed. R. Ousterhout (Urbana,

Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1990).
67. Piacenza Pilgrim, Travels 17, 31, in Wilkinson, 83.
68. Egeria 24.9f, in Egeria's Travels to the Holy Land, by John Wilkinson, rev.
ed. (Jerusalem: Ariel; Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1981), 125.
69. Vikan, 1990 (as in n. 66), 100-101.
70. In addition to the literature cited above, see also Grabar.
71. Hahn (as in n. 66).

72. For the inscription, see Grabar, 18. The token carries a similar inscription around its periphery, indicating that it served the same purpose for its
owner: "Blessing of the Mother of God of the rock Boudiam" (the meaning of
the last word is not clear); see ibid., 31.
73. Ibid., 19-21, 52; Kurt Weitzmann, "Loca Sancta and the Representational Arts of Palestine," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 29 (1974): 36-39, 41-42.
74. Vikan, 1982 (as in n. 66), 20-22.
75. Piacenza Pilgrim, Travels 20, in Wilkinson, 83.
76. Vikan, 1982 (as in n. 66), 22-24; idem, 1990 (as in n. 66), 102-6.
77.J. K. Elliot, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1993), 48-67, esp. 61.
47. Nordhagen, 83-104.

48. This is discussed in detail in van Dijk (as in n. 31), 121-92, 288-316.
49. For an introduction, see G6ssman (as in n. 8), 12-14.
50. For example, Quodvultdeus, De Symbolo, 1.5.11, in Pat. lat., vol. 40, 643;
Romanos's first hymn on the Annunciation, strophe 16-17, ed. J. Grosdidier
de Matons, in Sources chritiennes, vol. 110 (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1965),
36-39; Abraham of Ephesus, Sermo in AnnuntiationeDeiparae, 4, ed. M.Jugie, in
Pat. or, vol. 16, 445, and so on.
51. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 4, in Pat. gr, vol. 77, 991-96, esp. 992; Proclus
of Constantinople, In Natali Domini, in Pat. gr, vol. 61, 737-38, esp. 737;
Antipater of Bostra, Sermo in loannem Baptistam 9, in Pat. gr., vol. 85, 1763-76,
esp. 1771-72. For discussion of these texts, see Roberto Caro, La Homiletica
Mariana Griega en el Siglo V, 3 vols. (Dayton, Ohio: University of Dayton Press,

1971-73), vol. 1, 226-40; vol. 2, 269-83, 398-410.
52. Gerard G. Meersseman, The Acathistos Hymn: Hymn of Praise to the Mother
of God (Fribourg: University Press, 1958), 11-13; Egon Wellesz, "The 'Akathistos': A Study in Byzantine Hymnography," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 9-10 (1956):
149f.
53. Theodotus of Ancyra, Sermo in S. Deiparam et Simeonem, in Pat. gr, vol. 77,
1389-1412, esp. 1393-94; trans. Meersseman (as in n. 52), 12. See also Caro
(as in n. 51), vol. 1, 176-87.

54. Romanos (as in n. 50), 13-41.
55. Romanos, trans. Marjorie Carpenter, in Romanos, Kontakia of Romanos,
Byzantine Melodist, vol. 2 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1973), 9.
56. Ibid., 14.
57. Meersseman (as in n. 52); Wellesz (as in n. 52), 141-74; idem, The
Akathistos Hymn, Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae Transcripta, vol. 9 (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1957). Both authors provide the text of the hymn with
commentary, including a discussion of attribution.
58. Akathistos hymn, trans. Carpenter (as in n. 55), 307.
59. Ibid., 309.
60. Pseudo-Athanasius, In Annuntiatione sanctissimae Dominae nostrae et Deipa-
rae, in Pat. gr, vol. 28, 917-40; partial Italian trans. in Testi mariani del primo
millenio, vol. 1, ed. G. Gharib et al. (Rome: Citt1 Nuova, 1988), 771-80. On this
homily, see also MartinJugie, "Deux homtlies patristiques pseudtpigraphiques:
Saint Athanase sur l'Annonciation; Saint Modeste de Jerusalem sur la
Dormition," Echos d'Orient 39 (1941-42): 283-84; Caro (as in n. 51), vol. 2,

545-54.
61. Pseudo-Athanasius, 15 (as in n. 60), 940. I am most grateful to Dr. Robert

Sinkewicz for translating this and the following passage.
62. Sirarpie der Nersessian, Armenian Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery
(Baltimore: Trustees of the Waiters Art Gallery, 1973), 1-5; Thomas F.
Mathews and Roger S. Wieck, eds., Treasures in Heaven: Armenian Illuminated

Manuscripts, exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1994, 148-49, cat.
no. 6.
63. Passages similar to those cited in the Greek texts also occur in Armenian
literature, most notably in the 13th-century Synaxarion of Ter Israel. The text
for the Feast of the Annunciation (Apr. 6 in the Armenian calendar) recounts
the life of Mary up to the Annunciation, after which "we also, the believers"
address Mary with a long series of "chairetismoi"; see G. Bayan ed. and French
trans., in Pat. or, vol. 21, 247-50. Another long passage of "chairetismoi" occurs
in the text for Apr. 7, the feast of the archangel Gabriel. For an overview of
early Armenian Marian texts, with Italian translations, see Testi mariani (as in
n. 60), vol. 4, 533-662.

64. Dalton (as in n. 38); Byzance (as in n. 38), 133, cat. no. 88. The ring in
Paris is dated 7th-8th century.
78. Ibid., 61.
79. Egeria, as preserved in Peter the Deacon, Liber de Locis Sanctis, T; see
Wilkinson, 1981 (as in n. 68), 193.
80. Piacenza Pilgrim, Travels 4-5, in Wilkinson, 79.
81. Adomnan, Holy Places 2.26.4-5, in Wilkinson, 109.
82.Joan E. Taylor, Christians and Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian
Origins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 230-67; Jack Finegan, The
Archaeology of the New Testament, rev. ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1992), 44-56.
83. Virgilio C. Corbo, "La chiesa-sinagoga dell'Annunziata a Nazaret," Liber
Annuus 37 (1987): 333-48, who also proposes a reconstruction of the

structure.
84. First published by Bellarmino Bagatti in Revue Biblique 49 (1962):
418-19; see also Corbo (as in n. 83), 344-46.
85. The pre-Byzantine structure was probably constructed by Joseph of

Tiberias in the second quarter of the 4th century, providing a terminus post
quem for the graffito; see Corbo (as in n. 83), 340-43; Taylor (as in n. 82), 267.
The destruction of this building to make way for the Byzantine church
furnishes a terminus ante quem. Due to the appearance of crosses in the mosaic
pavement of some parts of the church but not in others, it is traditionally dated
ca. 427, the year of the emperor Theodosios's edict prohibiting the depiction
of crosses and other Christian symbols on the floor where they could be
walked on. However, Taylor has demonstrated that the imperial edict had little
effect on the decoration of church floors in the area, which continued to
display crosses up into the 6th century, and prefers to date the Byzantine
church ca. 500: see Taylor, 235-53, 266-67, esp. 240-43.
86. Van Dijk (as in n. 31), 193-287.
87. Wilhelm Levison, "Aus Englischen Bibliotheken II," in Neues Archiv der
Gesellschaft fir iiltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, vol. 35 (Hannover: Hahnische
Buchhandlung, 1901; reprint, 1985), 363-64.

88. Kartsonis (as in n. 44), 79-80; Robert Deshman, "Servants of the Mother
of God in Byzantine and Medieval Art," Word and Image 5 (1989): 42.
89. Deshman (as in n. 88), 39.
90. Ibid., 36-42, on the significance of the midwives in the Nativity scene.
91. On the service to the Virgin as a devotional concept in the early Middle
Ages, see ibid., 39.
92. Levison (as in n. 87), 363-64.
93. B.-Ch. Mercier, "La liturgie de SaintJacques," in Pat. or, vol. 26, 212f.;
GeoffreyJ. Cuming, The Liturgy ofSt. Mark, Orientalia Christiana Analecta, vol.
234 (Rome: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1990), 29.
94. The angelic salutation already appears in the oldest Greek manuscript of
the Liturgy of SaintJames, which dates to the 9th century; see Mercier (as in n.
93), 132. Here Gabriel's and Elizabeth's salutations are followed by the phrase
"because you have brought forth the savior of our souls." An almost identical
prayer, also in Greek, was found in the ruins of a monastery near Luxor in
Egypt, inscribed on a clay tablet dated to the 6th or 7th century; see Gabriele
Giamberardini, Il culto mariano in Egitto, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing
Press, 1975), 232-33.
95. Frederick S. Paxton, ChristianizingDeath: The Creation ofa RitualProcess in

Early MedievalEurope (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990), 66-69; Cyril
Vogel, "Deux consequences de l'eschatologie grtgorienne: La multiplication
des messes privtes et les moines-pratres," in Grigoire le Grand, ed.J. Fontaine et
al. (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1986), 267-70;
Arnold Angenendt, "Missa specialis: Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Entstehung der
Privatmessen," Friihmittelalterliche Studien 17 (1983): 195-203.
96. In early 8th-century Rome, masses for the dead followed the same text
and ritual as regular masses and were distinguished only through the readings
and the inclusion of a few special prayers; seeJoseph A. Jungmann, The Mass of
the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development, vol. 1, trans. F. A. Brunner (New
York: Benziger Bros., 1951), 219 n. 48. On the Roman mass in general in this
period, see also Salvatore Marsili et al., La Liturgia, Eucharistia: Teologia e storia
della celebrazione, vol. 3, pt. 2 of Andmnesis: Introduzione storico-teologica alla
Liturgia, ed. S. Marsili (Casale Monferrato: Marietti, 1983), 225-45; Robert
CabiW, The Eucharist, trans. M. J. O'Connell, vol. 2 of The Church at Prayer, ed.
A. G. Martimort, new ed. (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1986).

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The Angelic Salutation in Early Byzantine and Medieval Annunciation Imagery

Author(s): Ann van Dijk

The Angelic Salutation in Early Byzantine and Medieval

narrative level, it records the angel's initial words of greeting

Ansanus in the cathedral of Siena (Fig. 1).1 The composition

intense gold of the background bathes both figures in the

and his cloak flapping in a supernatural wind. Clothed in

salutation, "Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum" (Hail, full of

his mouth, describing an oblique path directly toward its

Beyond the sheer power of its visual impact on viewers,

number of ways.4 Although commissioned to decorate the

pride of place to a narrative scene, replacing the Madonna

means: by suppressing detail, especially of setting, and by

as described in the biblical account of the Annunciation

grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among

Who having heard, was troubled at this saying, and

Moreover, both the choice of words for the inscription-that

placement along a line projecting straight from Gabriel's

diacy, as though the encounter between the angel and the

At the same time, the inscription characterizes the person

rank in general, it also makes specific reference to her

coupled with the words spoken by Elizabeth at the Visitation

was due in part to its inclusion in the Little Office of the

As far as text is concerned, the inscription is far from

gin).10 This office was chanted daily by priests, monks, and

angelic salutation are common in high and late medieval art.5

nucleus of the Book of Hours, the most popular devotional

devotional practices around it, such as the Angelus, the

THE ANGELIC SALUTATION 421

custom of reciting the Ave Maria three times at the sound of

ever, only when reading the inscription in Simone Martini's

the evening bell.11 The Angelus was especially promoted by

painting aloud is the viewer able to participate fully in the

in 1327 Pope John XXII attached an indulgence to the

Thus, for viewers of Simone Martini's Annunciation, in

grace, the Lord is with thee," thus adopting the angel's

standing the image's devotional character, for when taken

The capacity of Annunciation images inscribed in this way

practice for viewers to imitate. The emphasis on vocalizing the

specific devotional context of the Book of Hours. As is well

words of the angelic salutation that is a result of their

particularly appropriate image to appear within the more

tion is one of a cycle of eight narrative images illustrating

individual Hours (Matins, Lauds, Prime, and so on) of the

One very famous example, closely contemporary with

Jeanne d'Evreux (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,

422 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 1999 VOLUME I.XXXI NUMBER 3

In some manuscripts, the inclusion of a representation of

reinforces this aspect of the image's function.17 In the Hours

ofJeanne d'Evreux, for example,Jeanne herself kneels inside

the cue provided by the inscribed Annunciation image and

A curious feature of the relationship between text and

the prayer at this precise point. In the Hours of Jeanne

phrase "Domine labia mea aperies" (Lord, open thou my

later; the incipit instructing users to do so usually appears as

2 Jean Pucelle, Hours ofJeanne d'Evreux, Annunciation,

Cloisters, ms 54.1.2, fol. 16r

the Cloisters, ms 54.1.2, fol. 16r), but there are countless

This differs from later, printed editions of the Hours of the

a rubric. The practice is standard in editions printed after

others.16 This minute volume (3 1/2 by 2 7/16 inches),

illuminated by Jean Pucelle, was commissioned by Charles IV

gested that these later editions may reflect earlier practice,