Annunciation from The Birth and Early Life of Christ 1594

Hendrick Goltzius made this engraving, Annunciation, part of a series on the life of Christ, in the Netherlands, sometime around 1600. Religious imagery was a powerful tool in the 17th century, reflecting the religious and political tensions of the time. Goltzius’s image constructs meaning through visual codes. The scene depicts the angel Gabriel telling Mary she will bear the son of God, representing divine intervention in the human world. Consider the role of the church in 17th century Netherlands: was this image of an angel delivering a divine message intended to reinforce the power of the church as an intermediary between humanity and the divine? Or was it intended to speak directly to the faithful? The engraving may reflect the Protestant reformation, in which individual believers sought a more direct connection to the divine, bypassing religious institutions. To fully understand this work, we can consider the context in which it was made, drawing on historical sources and analyses to better understand its role and significance.