The Annunciation

Photo © Martin Crampin, Imaging the Bible in Wales

1974

Two-light window, with Gabriel in the left-hand light and Mary, kneeling in the right. Building behind and dove descending.

size: 35 cm (width of each light) [approx]
firm/studio: Celtic Studios

Church of the Five Saints, Llanpumsaint, Carmarthenshire
north wall of the nave

Dedication: 'Er gogoniant i Dduw ac mewn serchus gof am Ann a David Jones, gynt o Brynmeillion. Rhodd eu plant 1974.'

The juxtaposition of the figures is conventional; the archangel being placed to the left of the Virgin Mary. Note that Gabriel holds a rod or staff terminating in a fleur-de-lys, his symbol, which, because of the Annunciation, also became associated with Mary. Above his head appears MR, i.e. Maria Regina, a reference to Mary as Theotokos. Above the figure of Mary herself appears the dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, and here referring to the moment of Incarnation. Before Mary is a pot of lilies, thus a reference back to the fleur-de-lys, and itself symbolic of her purity. Her kneeling posture, and especially the extended hands, evokes her words of acceptance of her role, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord'. The building behind may represent the Holy House at Nazareth, traditionally the locus of the Annunciation.

Record added by Martin Crampin, Additional contribution by John Morgan-Guy. Last updated on 20-12-2011

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the Annunciation: Mary, usually reading, is visited by the angel [Luke 1:26-38]

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Further reading

Martin Crampin and John Morgan-Guy, Imaging the Bible in Wales (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2010), Reproduction and Tradition: The Medieval World.

References

Maurice Broady, A Vision Fulfilled: The story of Celtic Studios and Swansea's architectural glass tradition (Swansea: West Glamorgan Archive Service, 2010), p. 112.

Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach and Robert Scourfield, The Buildings of Wales: Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion (London: Yale University Press, 2006), p. 326.

Click to show suggested citation for this record

Martin Crampin (ed.), Stained Glass in Wales Catalogue, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth, 2011. (with a contribution by John Morgan-Guy)
https://stainedglass.delweddau.cymru/object/706 (accessed 24 November 2024)

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