REVIEW: “Annunciation” by artist Daniel Mitsui

I am sure you remember my review of artist/illustrator Daniel Mitsui’s Crucifixion.  Mitsui has a blog called The Lion and the Cardinal, an obvious Patristic reference which never fails to delight me.

Today I received another print from him, a polychrome print of the Annunciation.  It is found on his religious art page here.

These are taken with my phone, so they are not perfectly clear.

Here is the print, taken from his site.
Annunciation
A couple details from my new print taken with my phone (so they are a tad fuzzy):

Around the figure of the angel and the Blessed Virgin are Old Testament figures, foreshadowing the Annunciation.   This one is of Gideon and the fleece soaked with dew.   You might recall my post about St. Ambrose’s exegesis of the “dew” during the period when certain bishops were protesting the new, corrected translation.

You can see the detail in the background./

You can see part of Mitsui’s signature.

I was also very impressed by the way the print was wrapped up, between multiple layers of cardboard, everything carefully taped up so that the print could not be damaged.

This would make a fine gift for, say, some seminarian, or a convert… anyone.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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5 Comments

  1. What splendid work! Thank you, Father, for telling us about this artist. His Kuniyoshi-inspired St. Michael really caught my eye… I think I really need to get a copy!

  2. Oh, I dunno. Dew is such a hard word. It’s got one syllable, three letters, and there’s more than one way to spell it. This confuses me.

  3. AnAmericanMother says:

    Me too. Saving up my pennies . . . I cleaned the gutters instead of paying somebody to do them . . .

  4. Supertradmum says:

    Japanese art has been transitioning from being very abstract to more traditional, the opposite of Western art. So, these prints are more “modern” than one would expect.

    Heather,
    Which Kuiyoshi do you mean, as there are two in the last 100 years, and the first, the last of the ukiyo-e style, really did nightmarishis woodblocks? Do you mean the later one, Yasuo? I am interested in your take on this influence.

  5. Supertradmum,

    Mitsui refers to Kuniyoshi Utagawa as a main inspiration for his St. Michael piece. Not all of that artist’s works are nightmarish. A number of them feature warriors slaying dragons or other beasts, so that translates pretty well into St. Michael slaying the devil.

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