L’Annonciation dans l’espace ecclésial parisien au XVIIIe siècle : liturgie française et modèle italien

Abstract

The Annunciation in the Ecclesial Settings of 18th century Paris : French Liturgy and the Italian Model. In the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century, the Annunciation was one of the most popular subject matters for Parisian altarpieces. Adopted for specific liturgical purposes following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, it also served as the basis for a new aesthetic in ecclesial decoration. The Annunciation played a key role in 18th-century theological writings as well as in the theoretical debates of the 1750s on the Italian model, and thus occupies an unprecedented place at that period. In order to grasp fully their importance during the Enlightenment, this article sheds new light on representations of the Annunciation, using a renewed iconographical approach grounded in the cultural history of art and the history of religious thought.