The Annunciation to the Virgin

In late medieval Northern Europe, depictions of the Annunciation were often rich in iconography, and the present rendition shows a particular zeal in the establishment of symbolic connections. The Annunciation depicts the Virgin shown in the act of reading as the Archangel Gabriel interrupts her, holding a scroll with the words Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum (Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with three [Blessed are you among women] (Luke 1:28)). The small lectern at which the Virgin kneels is decorated with a representation of the Temptation in the Garden, with a crowned female headed snake wrapped around the Tree of Life. The deployment of this detail in this scene gives a particularly literal resonance to the medieval homiletic trope according to which mankind was fallen in Eve and restored in Ave. In other words, the Virgin Mary is shown here as the New Eve.