The Annunciation in Mary’s Chamber reinterprets the iconography of early Netherlandish Annunciation paintings, situating it within the devotional culture of the late medieval and early modern Low Countries. Drawing on a vast array of archival documents, catechetical manuals, and other sources, Thor-Oona Pignarre-Altermatt argues that changing domestic devotional practices fostered the new modes of intimacy reflected in these pictures. Whereas Annunciation paintings have primarily prompted symbolic interpretations, this richly illustrated, methodologically innovative book examines them as indices of household sacrality and in relation to the sacred character of domestic space. The book is accompanied by the first comprehensive catalogue of early Netherlandish Annunciation paintings created between c. 1425 and c. 1525.

This work has been made possible by the support of the Institut des civilisations, arts et lettres (INCAL) at UCLouvain.