The Annunciation in Mary’s Chamber explores the domestic iconography of early Netherlandish Annunciation paintings in the context of domestic devotion. Drawing on a vast array of archival documents, catechetical manuals, and close visual analyses, Thor-Oona Pignarre-Altermatt argues that domestic devotional practices provided the framework for an intimate spirituality based on the use of books, images and objects during daily prayer. While Annunciation paintings have primarily prompted symbolic interpretations, this richly illustrated, methodologically innovative book reinterprets them as reflections of the evolving relationships between representations and practices that shaped the devotional culture of the late medieval and early modern Low Countries. The book is accompanied by the first comprehensive catalog 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.