GUYS.

Detail of  the Annunciation, from the Benedictional of S. AEthelwold, 963-984, Add MS 49598, Folio 5v

  According to the Bodleian Library’s online entry for the Benedictional of St Aethelwold, this page (of which only half is here shown) is a miniature of the Annunciation of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (I have left Gabriel out of the picture here, but no doubt he is relieved to have escaped the presence of so formidable a lady), “preceding the benediction for the first Sunday in Advent”.

  This manuscript, a collection of benedictions with lavish illustrations, is an example of the “Winchester School” of illumination around the end of the tenth century, a style recognizable by its creative ways of avoiding blank spaces and lavish use of colour. In the eleventh century a Continental influence asserted itself and brought in the line drawings and tiny fluttering draperies which characterize later…