I sing a song of the saints of olde

It's a gorgeous weekend in the north country. you can't really see them, but I swear, there are a pair of preening swans in this picture, just by the edge of the pond, between the tree's shadow and the bushes - that clump of white spot that isn't water. I promise. Huge, huge swans. Swans can be vicious, so I didn't get any closer, but it was otherwise soooooo pastoral, my teeth hurt. 

who the heck is this saint?!

Hildegard von Bingen? Theresa of Avila? Lesser Theresa? Bridget? Gertrude?

There was only one of these pillows at this little coffee/gift shop, so I purchased it with the intention of gifting it to a friend (if there were two, I'd have one for me). My mother believes it to be a Gothic painting (the saintly saint, her book and the dove, not the background), but we're trying to figure out who the woman in the painting is. The tag indicated nothing, only that Creative Co-op was the maker, and googling that turned up nothing, not even an image of this pillow. We know she's saintly because of her halo, and the dove as a representation of the holy spirit. 

We thought maybe also Julian of Norwich, and whatever it is in her right hand is something she's teasing the cat with. It's from right century. But none of the Julian portraiture is without a cat (totally appropriate, since she's the patroness of kitties). Again, the cat is cut out of the picture. No luck finding this image. At all. Or the company who made the pillow, or any other retailer with this pillow for sale. There's nothing on the tag directing us towards getting another one or figuring out who this woman is. 

I discovered, trolling the internet, that there are companion pillows to this one, and a plate, also by Creative Co-op, Inc. The angels are holding lilies, which leads me to believe, if these are a set, that the woman is in all likelihood, the Madonna and the angels are Gabriel.  

 We thought it was a saint. Two and a half hours later, we remembered a little art history and voila. Not a saint. Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Probably part of an illuminated manuscript. Which makes it an Annunciation! This still doesn't answer the question of who the artist is who painted this annunciation!! Argh!