In the quiet of an enclosed garden filled with symbolic plants, or glimpsed inside a sturdy house, a young woman reads, blissfully unaware that her life is about to change. Approaching her, an angel is poised to break the news, to make a great announcement. Whatever your personal beliefs, it is hard to deny the impact Christianity would have on the world so the Annunciation by Gabriel to Mary, telling her that she was to bear a son, is one of the most popular images of the Middle Ages, more popular indeed than the Nativity itself. This lecture reveals the key players in the story, dissects the symbolism of Mary and the Annunciation and examines the world-changing importance of that particular moment. It is richly illustrated with gorgeous images from the fourth to the sixteenth centuries.

Imogen Corrigan served for 20 years in the British Army before going to the University of Kent where she gained first-class honours in Anglo-Saxon & Mediaeval History and Art, followed by an M. Phil from the University of Birmingham. She lectures in Europe and had a book published in 2019, Stone on Stone: The Men Who Built The Cathedrals.