St. Patrick's Cathedral

Altar frontal in Lady Chapel with the Annunciation

Robert J. Reiley commissioned Hildreth Meière to design an altar frontal for the Lady Chapel during a renovation of the Cathedral in 1941. Her Annunciation in inlaid marble, executed by Alexander Pelli and Company, relates to the Gothic architecture of the Lady Chapel.

Detail of the Annunciation in inlaid marble

Echoing the trefoil-shaped stone lancets of the surrounding walls, Meière set her scene against a trefoil-shaped marble medallion. She dramatized the Annunciation by extending the angel’s wings beyond the edge of the trefoil ground to suggest that he has just alighted with important news. Surrounding the Annunciation is a conventional rose vine pattern, also in inlaid marble.1