26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God."
The Annunciation is a picture of the purification of the mystic, purification being the process by which God reveals to the human who he or she is. Tanner found his calling as a biblical painter in Paris by this painting, and Mary, seated before a flaming Gabriel, is also finding her destiny. In The Life of Moses, Gregory of Nyssa also speaks of Mary's purification stating "the light of divinity which through birth shone from her into human life did not consume the burning bush, even as the flower of her virginity was not withered by giving birth" (bk. 1 par. 21). Although Gregory could compare Mary to Moses, both receiving their destiny at the fire of God, Gregory instead compares her to the bush saying God will not consume what is natural and pure in her, her virginity.
In the painting Tanner has both a unique, yet accurate picture of Gabriel. Gabriel represents God's message on earth, not just a representation of angels, so Tanner depicts him as fire. "A contemporary critic saw a reminder of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The Annunciation in Tanner's work, but . . . the most striking contrast between the two works is Tanner's innovative use, possibly deriving from his fundamentalist religion, of a column of light to stand for Gabriel (Mosby 164). Turning from conventional figures of winged men, Tanner perhaps looked to the Bible, which states "In speaking of angels he says, ‘He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire'" (NIV, Hebrews 1:7). As a light, wind, and fire, the darkness in the painting flees, or is blown away by his revelation, darkness often being symbolic of sin. Jesus said "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness" (NIV, John 12:46). Gabriel's message will both bless and stigmatize Mary, yet "Living Light will illuminate any darkness and fear we find as an ‘exile of God'" (Craine 112).
Although all of Tanner's works have fine attention to consistency and detail, for example the rug in The Annunciation appears again in Christ Learning to Read as if that rug were part of Mary's dowry, but The Annunciation has more clarity than any other of Tanner's paintings. Mary has bare feet like Moses before the burning bush. Gregory states that "sandaled feet cannot ascend that height where the light of truth is seen" because the skins are symbolic of the skins God used to cover Adam and Eve after they sinned (bk. 1 par. 22). Tanner also pictures Mary so clearly because God reveals her true self to her. Although she is a virgin, she is still a sinner like all humans according to Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (NIV). Yet, God has chosen her, as all people can be, "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (NIV, Romans 10:13). The lamp on the right is lit, but in the light of God it gives little light. This is Mary's lamp, lit showing her readiness for the Bridegroom, dim showing the light she can give the world without God. "All our righteous acts are like filthy rags" when compared to God's perfection (NIV, Isaiah 64:6).
The yellow or golden tent is significant. Although The Annunciation is an early work of Tanner's, his tendency to have one color dominate is beginning to show. Biblically, gold is the color of the victor and God's dove according to Psalm 68:13.
Tanner's picture of Mary makes her relatable to all people. He does not picture her with a halo, or clothed in white, red, and blue, "the Virgin Mary is traditionally shown wearing a blue cloak, for example, blue being the symbolic color of heaven (of which she is queen)" (Welton 12). She is every woman, and historians speculate that Tanner used his wife as a model. Everyone may come to face God, and themselves, without fear. God's "perfect love drives out fear" (NIV, 1 John 4:18).
Craine, Renate. Hildegard: Prophet of the Cosmic Christ. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company. 1997.
Gregory of Nyssa. The Life of Moses. Trans. Everett Ferguson and Abraham J. Malherbe. New York: Paulist Press, 1978.
Mosby, Dewey F., Darrel Sewell, and Rae Alexander-Minter. Henry Ossawa Tanner. New York: Rissoli, 1991.
The New International Version Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
Welton, Jude. Looking at Paintings. New York: D K Publishing, 1994.
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