The Virgin and her purple wool

Abstract

The account of the Annunciation to the Virgin, found in the Gospel of Luke, describes the Incarnation of God, and establishes the possibility for the spiritual Salvation of man through the divine economy. Scenes of the Annunciation often appear in the threshold of the sanctuary of the Byzantine church, and are closely associated with the ceremonies of the liturgy in which the Incarnation is reenacted at the altar. The connection between sacred texts, art, ritual and space is further manifested in the divided composition of the Annunciation on the triumphal arch of the sanctuary, and illustrates how the choice to imbed these scenes into the architecture of the church adds additional layers of meaning in relation to the liturgy. Many of these divided scenes include the detail of the Virgin spinning purple wool, referring to the description of this event from the second-century apocryphal text of the Protoevangelion of James. This thesis examines the symbolism of the purple wool and the action of spinning in order to elucidate how the inclusion of these iconographic elements in Annunciation scenes manifests additional impact upon the visual experience during the liturgy.